Only Human (29 page)

“Not just anyone, only the ones she’s already met, and that she and my dad both feel comfortable with. I don’t think you’d be able to get her to invite someone to stay at the house out of the blue. Besides, their garden club just had a lot of events with out of town people and I don’t think they have anything else coming up anytime soon.”

“Let me see what I can do. The only thing that comes to mind is having someone spend the night in the trees in their backyard. Not sure about how to handle the daytime, but the murders and abductions have happened at night.”

“If that’s what you have to do then do it. If you’re going to insist on protecting me then I want my loved ones protected, too.”

“Speaking of your protection, how about having Cora visit for a few days?”

“It wasn’t a big deal a few years ago, but with Xiaolan in what used to be the guest bedroom...” I thought it over a second and added, “I guess I could put Lauren in bed with me, and Cora in Lauren’s bed.”

“Or, even safer, Cora could sleep in your bed.”

Cora is a werewolf. Other than the ones I’ve gone on missions with, I haven’t been around the wolves too much, but Cora and I have a lot in common and we can talk for hours. Once before, when I needed round the clock bodyguards we told Lauren my friend Cora was coming to visit us for a while. Lauren loved her, and Cora still comes for dinner and a movie occasionally, though there’ve been no more overnight visits. I actually wouldn’t mind Cora in my bed — it wouldn’t be sexual, and we’d probably gab for half the night.

“If Cora’s my bodyguard at home, how about letting me take Smokey to work so he can alert me to danger? You’re the one who said most of the danger’s at night, right?”

He started to say no, but then appeared to take a few seconds to think it over. “Taking Smokey is a good idea, as he can stay in your office when you’re with patients. However, I don’t think Smokey alone will be enough. Sorry, but I want Nathan in the lobby, even with Smokey by your side.” He paused and added, “I appreciate that you and Nathan have reached some sort of truce and are no longer constantly bickering, but I’m hoping the two of you can eventually get beyond the truce stage.”

I started to protest, but he gave me a stern look and said, “Try. I know he started it. I know he was an ass, and while he isn’t going out of his way to be friendly, he’s no longer being intentionally antagonistic. From him, this is a monumental effort. He’s trying. You can try, too.”

Mordecai seemed to be ready to move on, and I was thankful for his change of subject as he said, “If the bodyguard situation is taken care of,” he threw me the knife handle, “show Aaron what you can do with this.”

I deftly caught it, took a deep breath and drew in energy even though I already had plenty for the knife, said “Okay,” and then manifested the blade, forged it, and brandished it a few times before holding it still so he could get a better look.

Aaron looked duly impressed. No, duly impressed doesn’t describe it. He looked fucking amazed. Speechless.

I gave him a playful smile as I absorbed the energy back into my hand without too much pain, tossed the handle back to Mordecai, and began to manifest blade and all. Now that I had the memory of doing it twice, it took maybe ten seconds to manifest and forge it.

“You’re gaining speed with each manifestation. A few days practice and it should appear almost instantaneous,” Mordecai told me.

Aaron still looked like he was in shock, so I laughed and said, “Aaron.
Breathe
. In and out. It’s kind of important.”

He stared at me another dozen seconds, motionless, and finally looked at Mordecai. “You were right. I didn’t believe it.
Couldn’t
believe it. But, if she can do this, then...” His shoulders slumped. “Cora and Nathan aren’t enough. I need to get her somewhere else. Somewhere I can make sure no one can get to her.”

“She can stay down here,” Abbott offered.

Time for me to speak. “I won’t let some asshole make me lock myself up in fear. This is another weapon in my arsenal, that’s all, and making the knife is easy. The comparison to the knife and the laser is the comparison between simple addition and calculus. I haven’t actually cut anything with the knife yet, and that may change things, but making it is almost too easy. Also,” I said as I looked at Mordecai, “I still want to see if I can make a metaphysical quarterstaff.” I looked back at Aaron. “Now
that
I can have a lot of fun with on a bad guy.”

Aaron jerked as he took in my words. “Could you make a metaphysical quarterstaff? Would it work the same way? You’re right, you’d be super deadly with one. The thought scares even me.”

“One way to find out.”

I stood and walked behind the sofa and outside the seating area, looked around to be sure I had enough room, held my hands up, imagined a quarterstaff in my hands, and it just
appeared
.

I tried to think of what one would do to set wood, because a kiln or forge would burn it up. I imagined curing it, and grinned as I felt it solidify.

Cautious at first, I twirled it around while the men suddenly seemed… not scared so much as... alarmed.

“What? You all look as if you’ve just been given terrifying news? This is a
good
thing. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before. I’ve been screwing around with the laser when I could’ve just made a quarterstaff and kicked ass without depleting my reserves.”

Aaron was the first to answer. “You look pretty fucking scary holding a nángùn made of light. Is it my imagination, or was it much easier for you to make the staff than the knife?”

“Not your imagination, but I feel really comfortable holding one of these, so probably not surprising.”

Mordecai spoke up. “What would it take for you to put a blade on the end of your staff?”

I thought about it, and it was there. And then I just intended for it to solidify, and it did. No need to think of a forge or kiln anymore. I looked at Mordecai and said, “Not much thought needed. It appears I’m much faster at putting a blade on something already in my hand than I am at creating blade and handle all together.”

“Absorb that and let’s try something else, please.”

I did, trying not to gasp in pain as the energy hit some pretty raw nerves on the way back in. Mordecai either didn’t notice I was in pain or ignored it. I assumed the latter but didn’t complain. He told me to create a five inch long stick and then create the blade. I opened my hand and imagined closing it around the stick, then imagined the blade on it, and then solidified the whole thing. Six seconds, tops.

Aaron looked like all of the blood had drained from his head. I would say he was white as a ghost, but the ghosts I’ve seen didn’t seem all that white, to me.

“Aaron, you look like you’re about to pass out. What are you not telling me?”

“Not my secrets to tell, even though it’s information you really need.” He shook his head and stared at the floor. “If I were to tell you then we’d both have to die, along with anyone else in the room.” He looked at Mordecai. “They bound you with the information too, didn’t they?”

“Yes. If either of us tells, they’ll know as soon as we mean to — even before the words leave our mouths or our fingers write or type it. My binding won’t even allow me to leave clues. I can think of no way to get the information to her.”

Aaron looked at me again. “I feel a lot better with you holding a quarterstaff than a knife. I understand why Mordecai wants to train you with a knife and eventually a sword, as it may be important at some point for you to be seen confidently wielding a sword, but for now, if you need to defend yourself, pull on your skills with the quarterstaff.” He shook his head and said, “I’d still like to squirrel you away to a deserted island in the middle of the ocean, but I’ll have to make do with bodyguards.”

Aaron left at dark, and Mordecai and I levitated down to the shelf on the side of the cliff. I made a knife and cut some rocks and branches with ease. He had me stab the cliff and withdraw the blade, and as he investigated the hole I asked, “Hey I don’t suppose Excalibur was—”

I stopped myself, feeling silly for even asking, but he said, “You tell me, could you put it into a rock and make it stay a knife for decades without you around to keep it that way, and so that only someone else who could wield such a weapon could pull it out?”

“Well, not right now. But if I were to live another couple hundred years and gain experience as quickly as I’ve been gaining it tonight, who knows?”

This obviously wasn’t the answer he was looking for, and I got a “harumph” out of him. We’d been on the ledge for at least thirty minutes at that point and I told him I was tired and wanted to call it a night.

He leaned against the cliff and said, “We need to talk about something, first.”

I sat on a small boulder and then wished I hadn’t, as I didn’t like looking up at him even more than usual. He was a good twenty inches taller when we were standing, and this was too much. I couldn’t figure out how to stand back up without looking undetermined, though, so I looked out at the water as I waited for him to speak.

“Aaron tells me he’s been working to increase your capacity, and has explained he thinks it might be easier on you if—”

I held my hand up and said, “No!” a lot louder and more vehemently than I meant. “Please don’t finish your sentence. I know what he thinks and…” I shook my head, still staring at the river below us, through the trees. “Forget he said anything, okay? I can’t
believe
he told you.”

He squatted beside me, bent his head down to my level, and touched my cheek to turn it towards him. “Don’t be embarrassed,
mon petite trésor
. Aaron was right to talk to me.”

“Little treasure?” I asked, and then realized there was more, and corrected with, “
Your
little treasure?”

He nodded and I said, “I’m your student, and I hope I can be considered your ally, and eventually a friend, but treasure makes no sense.”

“A human who can do the things you can? You’re either a treasure or something to be terrified of, and I’m choosing treasure.”

“You can’t be killed though, right?”

He looked at me through a dozen of my very rapid heartbeats before he said, “It isn’t common knowledge, but it’s assumed I can be killed by a few of my kind, as they’ve killed a few others of our kind. The only ones who’ve successfully killed one of us wield a weapon such as yours, so it’s unknown whether you could hurt me or not. The blue light injures us but doesn’t kill, while the red and white can kill. The assumption is they can kill us because their weapon is made from an aura much like our own, which means a weapon made from your human aura won’t be enough to do it, but I’m not willing to take the chance.”

“You took a risk by telling me this.”

“Yes and no. I don’t want you to think you can be careless around me because I’m supposedly immortal.”

I smiled. “So, not a risk, but covering your ass.”

He returned my smile and said, “We will discuss my helping you increase your capacity another time. Have you had any luck producing a flame?”

I’d only practiced a few times, with no positive results, so I shook my head and told him, “No, and to be honest I’m thinking I should spend more time practicing with the knife than the flame in the coming days.”

“Five minutes a day towards the flame.” He nodded towards the top of the cliff. “Go on up and I’ll be right behind you.”

As I reached the top I realized I wasn’t anywhere near as drained as I’d been the first night. I was physically tired, but my energy wasn’t depleted. It made sense because using the knife was so much easier. The laser was great if someone was farther away, but a sword or quarterstaff would work better for close fighting. Also, I could use it as a deterrent, a great big ‘
Are you sure you want to fuck with me?
’ image to burn into their brain.

Mordecai followed me home, saying he had instructions from Aaron to hand me over to Cora, who was waiting down the street from the house and fell in behind us, so she and I pulled into my driveway together while Mordecai kept going.

Cora and I hugged in the driveway when we got out of our cars. She’s six feet tall with beautiful brown hair and green eyes, and is built like a sexy bodybuilder. I rarely see her in jeans — she does casual chic as well as a model, and with her height she pulls the look off even if she isn’t skin and bones. Tonight she was wearing black leggings with a charcoal skirt and a skintight hot pink knit shirt with a short charcoal jacket over the top. Oh, and her incredibly sexy black boots, even if they didn’t have a heel. She had several pairs of them all in different colors, and she apparently had them handmade so she could look good while she kicked ass. I planned to talk to her about having some made for me while she was here this time. It wouldn’t hurt for me to have something to wear when I wanted to look nice but still be able to run if I needed.

Cora had a suitcase, a duffel, and a backpack.

“Your options,” I told her, “are to sleep in Lauren’s bed, and Lauren can bunk with me. Or, if it isn’t too weird, you can sleep with me.”

“I can protect you better if I’m in your room, and I hate sleeping alone, anyway.”

I knew she lived with several other werewolves and they all slept together in a (usually) nonsexual way, so I said, “Sure, why not. It’ll be like a slumber party.”

Lauren was in the shower when we went in, and Xiaolan was in the family room.

I introduced Xiaolan to Cora and told her, “Cora will be staying with us for a while. She’s sensitive to carbohydrates and will bring meat into the house. She’s stayed with us before and we’ve managed to make it work. I’m sure we will this time, too.”

Xiaolan raised her eyebrows, but didn’t question me. She’d lived with us for months and there’d never been meat in the house. But, Cora is a werewolf and needed a lot of meat, though I couldn’t give Xiaolan
that
explanation. We had a grill out back and Cora used it to cook as often as possible to keep from making the house smell, and I did my best not to complain of the place smelling like roasting pieces of dead animals