Only Human (49 page)

“Yes, that’s where we’re going.”

I stopped fighting him, and when we got to the car I noticed his arm was mangled. I tried to get a closer look but he pulled it back and said, “I’ll heal as soon as I feed. One of my flock is headed to the Drake offices. I’m more concerned with making sure you’re okay at the moment.”

“I’m fine, which means I’m driving.”

He looked at me a few seconds and handed me his keys, saying, “I’m fine, but we’ll get there faster if we can skip the arguing.”

I wasn’t sure if he really needed me to drive, or was only letting me so we could leave faster, but decided it didn’t matter at the moment.

“Aaron has a team taking the dead to an authoritative party,” Abbott told me as I drove, “and it happens he has an incinerator.”

“I heard someone saying the European faction would need to know?”

I glanced at him to see his face grim, and it was a few seconds before he merely said, “Yes, they will.”

“You sure you’re okay?”

“I will be. I smell them on you. Tell me what they did to you.”

It was an order, but I let it go and answered. “One of them grabbed me, but I got away before he did anything. My arm will probably be bruised, but once I saw I couldn’t help with the fighting, I levitated up and out of the way.”

He seemed to be in pain, and I made a quick decision. “I know I said no biting, but if you need blood, I can....”

“I appreciate the offer, Carena. I’m touched. However, if I ever get to drink from you then the first time will be for pleasure and not need. I can wait until we reach the Drake offices.”

I was a little relieved, actually, but also a little disappointed. That’s me, a huge contradiction even in my own head.

I didn’t know what to say, so I asked, “That was the other race of vampires, wasn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“They’re taking the dead to Bran so he can notify the European group?”

“Yes.”

“I once heard something about an Interspecies Council, is that what this European group is?”

“Yes, which is the same group deciding what to do about you. However, they don’t like for humans to know of them, so it’s best if you don’t mention them to anyone.”

I was about to ask him if he understood the idiocy of what he was saying, but he beat me to the punch. “Don’t expect it to make sense. They know you’re aware of them, but can ignore that annoying little fact as long as you don’t talk about knowing of them.”

I shook my head and said, “I want to know what we find out from the two they kept alive, but I’m wondering if I really want to be present to see whatever has to be done to them to make them talk.”

“You likely won’t be allowed in. The wolves and lions won’t be, either,” he said, probably trying to let me know it wasn’t because I’m human. “This is vampire business. Aaron will be in there with us, of course — he owns the building, and, well, he’s old and can know about the inner workings of… It’s hard to explain, but you’ll probably be with the lions and wolves while we interrogate.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

As Abbott predicted, I was shuttled off with the shifters into the old library, now a large meeting room, while the vampires and Aaron went to the gymnasium with the survivors. It sounded as if they planned to teleconference Mordecai in, and I made a note to insist I get to speak to him tomorrow, even if only by phone.

As I entered the meeting room, Nathan pulled me to the back of the room, to one of the sofas, and before I realized what was about to happen, I fell apart.

I totally went girly-girl, complete with tears and snot while practically hyperventilating, in front of a whole bunch of wolves and lions. And
Randall
.

There was nothing I could do to stop it or postpone it, the feelings welled up and came out, and I was merely along for the ride.

Nathan pulled me to him and I cried into his chest while he held me. He’d seen Aaron do this a few times, though I’d been mortified when he’d seen it.

Now? I was grateful he’d known to get me to the back of the room, at least. His arms were a haven, and I let him hold and comfort me, and shield me from the rest of the room.

At first, all I could do was cry, but as the emotions worked their way through I became aware of the others, many of whom were standing and watching. Some were obviously disgusted by the crying human female, while others were alarmed I was falling apart.

Nathan told them, “She’ll be fine. She can hold it together during any crisis, she just falls apart once it’s over.” A pause and then, “No, she doesn’t need anyone to soothe her or cheer her up, she just needs to have a good cry and then she’ll be okay. Though, some tissue would be nice, so she can blow her nose.”

And, of course, this is when the Big European Dudes decided to arrive. They just... appeared. Out of thin air.

Everyone in the room went into attack mode, and Nathan unceremoniously spilled me onto the sofa as he stood, saying, “Myrddin, Apollonius, what a surprise. News travels fast in this age, does it not?”

The wolves stood down a tiny bit, but were still obviously on guard as they watched Nathan and the two new people.

One of the new men responded, “It does. We’re aware you were coming with a party this weekend to speak on behalf of your human, but considering the events of tonight it seemed expedient to come ourselves and speak with the surviving Celrau, and while we’re here we can speak with your human
personally
.”

Nathan still looked relaxed, not on guard like he might have to fight at any moment, but I was about as tense as I could get.

“I must say,” Nathan told them. “I’m relieved it’s the two of you who’ve come, my friends. Aaron will be pleased to see you as well. Let me introduce you to Kirsten, and then I’ll let Aaron know you’re here. I’m assuming he has the gymnasium warded so you couldn’t get in?”

“Yes, he does,” the European man said with what I thought was possibly an Italian accent.

Someone had brought me tissues by now and I needed to blow my nose, but decided not to in front of everyone. I wiped and sniffled as best I could, tried to compose myself, and stood to walk towards them.

“Kirsten has been engaging in a very human activity, but it looks like her meltdown is over.” He took my hand and said, “Myrddin, Apollonius, I would like you to meet Kirsten O’Shea. Kirsten, this is Myrddin and Apollonius. No last names necessary.”

Nathan had my hand so I couldn’t offer to shake theirs. Perhaps it wasn’t done, so he was attempting to keep me from trying? I didn’t know what to do, but I figured a welcome would be safe. “Gentlemen, welcome to our fair city.”

The one I thought was Myrddin turned to Nathan and said, “If you can get Apollonius in with Aaron then I will remain here and speak with your human.”

He’d snubbed me, and then referred to me by my race again, and my temper made an appearance. I checked it, but then decided to speak anyway, though I didn’t snap at him.
Honest
, my voice was as pleasant as I could make it as I said, “Kirsten. My name is Kirsten.”

Nathan shot me a warning look, picked up a phone to call Aaron, and after a few words into the phone gave Apollonius directions to the gymnasium, saying Aaron would drop the wards long enough for him to enter. We watched Apollonius leave, and Nathan turned to the other man. “Myrddin, I’d like to move our conversation into another room, and bring our wolf Alpha with us as well, if it’s amenable to you.”

“Certainly.”

So the four of us went into Nathan’s office and sat in his seating area like civilized people, but it didn’t feel very civilized.

Unsure of where I stood, I directed my thoughts to Randall.

What’s going on? Any idea?

Best not to talk like this, he might sense what we’re doing.

I didn’t respond back. If Randall said not to, then no need in doing it any more than I already had. I reinforced my shields, just in case.

Myrddin looked to me and said, “Miss O’Shea, it seems you’ve formed many powerful alliances in your short life.”

“I’d rather think of it as making friends, but yes, I suppose your statement is accurate.”

“Please, tell me what happened tonight.”

 I did, and when I reached the fight I explained that, with the few metaphysical weapons available to me, and with the way the fight happened, there was nothing I could do to help. I explained how I levitated up to get out of the way so no one would have to rescue me again, and then how I’d gone back down to release the girl and then levitate her back up with me.

“Tell me about your metaphysical weapons.”

“I have the light sword, though I’m not that good with it. Since I have skills with a quarterstaff, I’m much more comfortable with a quarterstaff of light than I am a sword. Either way, neither could be used in the fight because there was too much danger of hurting someone on our side. I also have this thing where I can project heat into someone’s head and it, well, it explodes. But that didn’t work on these vampires — one of them grabbed me while I was trying it, and it’s likely I’d be dead if Kieran and Nathan hadn’t come to my rescue. I also have a laser thing, but I couldn’t use it during the fight for the same reason I couldn’t use the sword or quarterstaff. Plus, their circle blocked my laser, so I didn’t know if I could hurt them with it.”

“Tell me what happened the night you killed Surtr.”

I told him, including the fact I’d have lost my arm if Abbott hadn’t made arrangements for me to have some of Bran’s blood.

“Who taught you these skills?”

I wasn’t sure how to refuse to answer, but thankfully, Nathan interceded and told him, “Myrddin, she doesn’t speak to anyone about that. I believe it involves secrets not hers to tell.”

Myrddin’s look told me I’d need to verify Nathan’s words, so I told him, “I’ll tell you what I can, but Nathan is correct and it’s a subject I steer clear of — even the parts that don’t violate any secrets I’m honor bound to keep have always seemed best kept to myself. I will tell you those parts now, the parts that do not involve secrets, but it will be a short version.”

He nodded, so I launched into my story. “In my late teens and early twenties I was a shallow, materialistic female. I was a model and a ballet dancer, and when an injury ended my dance career I started reading books. When fiction grew old I moved to nonfiction, and before long I was reading about metaphysical subjects. A year or so into it I began looking for ways to gain experiential knowledge of the things I’d read about. I was invited into Native American ceremony, and I attended workshops where I learned much about the energy that’s all around us. I learned to cure headaches by manipulating these energies, and then figured out a few months later I could also give people headaches. I wasn’t interested in doing so, but the knowledge was a big eye opener. For every way to heal, you can cause harm.” I shook my head and got off my tangent to say, “I eventually ended up sitting on a mountain, meditating with monks.”

He looked bored, so I tried to speed the story along. “During the course of all of this I managed to heal my own foot, and I could walk again by this time. I still couldn’t run, and I knew I’d never again go en pointe, but I had an otherwise active lifestyle back and I began taking some Martial Arts instruction.” I neglected to mention it was the monks who taught me Martial Arts. It was best they didn’t know that part of it — Mordecai had figured it out, but I didn’t want Myrddin to know.

“Part of the instruction,” I continued, “was to focus your attention on something before you hit or kicked it. I learned that when I focused my attention in an almost meditative state, I could almost feel something manifesting, materializing. So, on my own I started doing this, to see what might manifest. I wasn’t sure what I was feeling, but I was sure there was something. And then one day I pointed my finger as part of my focus, and the laser came out.”

I didn’t tell him I’d shown the monks and they’d helped me learn to control it. I just wanted him to realize learning it had been an accident.

“And then the head blowing up thing — that was an accident as well. After I started helping Aaron out with the bad guys some of them decided to kidnap me. They surprised me from behind and took control of my hands right away. They bound my hands so my fingers were all pointing towards my own throat, so I couldn’t use my laser against them. I was tied to a chair in front of them and they were arguing over who was going to get to rape me first, and I remembered the whole headache lesson, and wondered if I could do more with it now than I could so long ago, when I was first learning.”

I hated remembering this, much less telling a total stranger, but I looked him in the eyes without shying away from his creepy-assed gaze and said, “I started working to give the one I least wanted to be raped by a headache, and once he had the headache, I kept at it, making it worse and worse. And... his head exploded. I’d had my head down, terrified, and pretending to be submissive in the hopes I’d get a chance to fight them when they untied me. When it exploded I didn’t have to pretend to be shocked and terrified, as I had no idea I could do it, and it was a horrifying sight. I was sick to my stomach.”

I looked to Nathan, and he finished the story for me. “The other men saw the look on her face, assumed this meant she wasn’t responsible, and a few of them were sent for a perimeter check. Kirsten was left with two men, and realized she couldn’t take another five minutes to blow them up. She went over what had happened at the end, and did it to one of the men with her in about fifteen seconds. The other guy was radioing for help when she exploded his head, and she levitated her chair to the desk, knocked the phone off with the chair leg, and then settled and used her nose to call Aaron’s cell phone. He wasn’t far away, thankfully, and we came to her rescue.”

Nathan looked at me and said, “You can tell them about Mordecai’s lesson a few weeks ago, he won’t mind.”

I nodded and told them, “When Mordecai convinced me I shouldn’t kill things from the demon realm just because they happened to be from the demon realm, he felt I needed to learn how to better control my talents. He taught me to create the sword of light, which as I said, I prefer to be a quarterstaff of light.”