Phoenix Rising (12 page)

You’re here as a cop
, he told himself sternly.
Remember what that felt like? To be a cop? Get a grip and pay attention.
Talis didn’t look at Artemis once. All his attention was focused on Trey as he removed that man’s shirt, yanking it off over his head so it mussed his dark hair. Laughing, Trey fumbled with Talis’s buttons, undoing them one by one with dramatic flair before sliding the shirt off his shoulders and letting it drop to the carpet. Leaning forward, Trey locked his lips around Talis’s left nipple, sucking greedily before moving to the other one.
Talis wound one hand in Trey’s thick hair, gazing down at him with beatific hunger. “You are incredible.” He pulled Trey’s head back until their eyes met. “Do you know how special you are?”
Grinning, Trey undid Talis’s pants and slid them down over his slim hips. “Everyone’s special when you’re about to fuck.”
Artemis snickered quietly. This kid was smarter than he looked. Watchingcorrection: observingthem was definitely having an effect on Artemis. As they removed the rest of their clothes, he started to sweat in his. Dropping a hand, he quickly adjusted himself.
While Artemis appreciated the smooth roundness of women’s bodies, it was the sharp angles and beckoning shadows of men he thought beautiful. The hard curves of Talis’s pecs, the long lines of muscle in his arms and on his torso, and the hollows inside Talis’s hip bones made his breath catch. And there! As he turned to pull Trey onto the bed, Artemis huffed out a hot breath of appreciation at the graceful curve of Talis's spine flowing into the perfect globes of his ass. The darkness of his crack made Artemis’s mouth water.
It should be him in that bed, running his hands over Talis’s shoulder and down his side to that perfect hip, not Trey, not a kid who had no idea what he’d gotten himself into.
For a moment, Artemis considered breaking this up, saw himself throwing Trey’s clothes at him and telling him to get out while he still could, but he clamped his lips shut and remained near the wall, locking his muscles so he wouldn’t move. He had to find out if Talis was a killer. Any future they might have together depended on it.
Trey was on his back, legs locked around Talis as they rocked against each other. They kissed open mouthed, moaning with desire, eyes closed. Sweat began to gleam on Talis’s pale skin.
Talis was talking, almost under his breath. Trey’s eyes opened as he listened. Ears straining, Artemis shoved Trey’s bag aside as he stretched out on the empty bed. Trey didn’t seem to notice he’d moved closer; his attention was fixed on Talis.
“You are beautiful and perfect,” Talis was saying, “and I want to keep you with me always, take you with me everywhere….” He urged Trey to raise his legs and place them on his shoulders.
Trey’s eyes were slightly glassy, whether from sexual excitement or Talis’s presence, Artemis didn’t know. “What?”
“Do you know what a phoenix is?”
The young man rolled his hips upward, seeking pressure. Talis’s hand went beneath him to finger Trey’s hole. “Yeah. Mythical bird that can heal. Lube’s in the drawer, man, along with condoms.”
Not so out of it, then, that he didn’t know what was happening.
Artemis bit his lip almost hard enough to make it bleed. Tension was making him tremble, even as his erection moved against the thin material of his pants. He wanted to touch himself but resisted. That wasn’t what he was here for, however arousing the two were.
Talis slipped a lubed finger inside Trey. “Not mythical. I am the Phoenix, the only one of its kind in the world. My tears have healed thousands of people and will heal thousands more, with your help.”
Trey smirked. “Whatever drug you’re on, can I have some?”
Talis slipped a second finger inside him, working him open for his cock. “No drug, my beautiful man, and you
are
beautiful.” He traced over the arch of Trey’s eyebrow. “Beautiful and perfect, and with your help, I can remain human.” For the first time, Talis glanced at Artemis, who startled at the sudden contact. “I have found my soul mate, but I must be human to claim him.”
A shiver went through Artemis, and the tremble became a deep shake that made his teeth chatter. In that instant, Artemis
believed
, and heat flooded him even as his hand, seemingly of its own will, went down between his legs and pressed hard against the burning need there.
Something passed between them. Artemis couldn’t describe it in words, but it set every cell in his body on fire. Talis’s eyes widened as he breathed in sharply, and then he was turning away, turning back to Trey, who was making small sounds in his throat.
“I’m ready,” the young man said. “Fuck! Come on….” When Talis slid inside him sans condom, Trey, not noticing, keened thinly and thrust higher, impaled and loving it.
Artemis quivered, still aflame, breath rasping harshly in his throat, unable to take his eyes off them and past caring about the propriety of his presence; hurriedly unzipping and shoving the pants down out of his way, he grabbed his cock and stroked.
Talis was whispering as he slowly thrust into Trey’s willing body. “I need your soul, lover. Give it to me and live forever, always inside me, wherever I go, however old I get…. Are you listening, Trey?”
He grunted. “Yeah… you want my soul, blah blah… move just
there
… oh god, that’s great….”
Talis slowed even more. “Open your eyes and look at me.”
Trey did so, body straining. “You’re making me crazy! Don’t stop.” Abruptly, his eyes remained locked on Talis’s amethyst-colored ones, Trey went still, and his mouth opened in a perfect O that had nothing to do with coming. “Who…?”
“Do you see me, Trey? I am the Phoenix.”
Artemis’s hand stopped moving as he leaned forward. There was no fear on Trey’s face. Rather, he looked… exalted.
“You see me,” Talis said with quiet satisfaction. “I am all. I am nothing. I am your brightest, most beautiful dream, and your darkest, most secret desire.” Trey listened, entranced, a smile starting to curve his lips upward. “I am the burning golden heat of the sun and the quiet silver-blue shadows of the moon. I am man.” Talis plunged down into Trey’s body, causing him to gasp. “I am woman. I am nothing.” He withdrew slowly before ravaging him again. “I am all. Will you give me your soul?”
“I… what will happen to me if I do?”
“You will die.” He said it simply, without emphasis, grinding his hips against Trey’s ass.
“So that you will live….”
“Yes.” Talis’s rhythm quickened, and Trey fell in with it, groaning.
“I will be with you forever? Promise me!”
“Forever.” Talis thrust his tongue into Trey’s mouth. “My beautiful lover….”
“Take it!” Trey cried, arching his back. “Take me!”
Throwing his head back, Talis went as deeply into Trey as he could. Trey came hard, without a hand on him, jetting strings of semen as high as his chin. Shuddering, Talis, cock buried in Trey’s ass, jerked against the young man, once, twice, breath held, and then, gasping, fell against Trey, embracing him. Trey’s legs fell to the bed.
The passionate tableau triggered Artemis’s orgasm, and he sank into the ecstasy of it, searing warmth pouring through him in successive waves, but at no time did he close his eyes. He had to
see
.
As Talis lay atop Trey, holding him, light seemed to pour off him, red and gold, spreading outward until it engulfed Trey, who was emitting light of his own, silver and white. There was one short cry from Trey. Artemis sat up, one hand still on his dick.
Talis was transforming.
In the space of one long breath, taken in and let out, Talis became the phoenix. The giant bird stretched, his clawed legs moving, scratching Trey’s motionless legs, and he straightened until he was upright, wings pummeling the air. The sound that came out of his beak caused Artemis to clap his hands over his ears and huddle in the bed, legs drawn up in a fetal position.
It was the sound of triumph.

We’re never so vulnerable than when we trust someone—but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy.

P
HOENIX
accepted Trey’s soul and felt, for several minutes, larger than himself and in touch with the universe, as elemental as stars and moon and earththe very stuff the pharaohs had used to make him. Energy flashed through him, lighting him up inside. Standing over Trey’s beautiful, lifeless body, he exulted in
life
.

Transforming back into Talis, he straightened Trey’s limbs, brushed his hair back, and touched his lips to Trey’s. The young man had made the ultimate sacrifice. Though he had done this many times, he never took it for granted. Each time was singular and the gift precious.

Drawing in a deep breath, he turned to Artemis, curled up on his side. Crawling onto the bed beside him, he touched the detective’s shoulder. “I’m here, my love.” Gathering Artemis into his arms, he kissed his cold forehead, cool cheeks, and icy lips. Artemis’s pants were open, his penis still out and come spattered across his shirt.

Talis cleaned him up, tucked him away, straightened his clothes, and then held him close. “I’m so sorry you had to see that.” Tears filled his eyes but did not fall. “It was necessary, so you would know.”

After a moment, the color washed back into Artemis’s face,and his eyes opened. They slowly focused. “He’s dead, then.”

“Yes.” He touched his thumb to the man’s bottom lip, loving its fullness. “I’m going to take you home now. Can you walk?”

“Of course I can walk,” he said, a hint of strength behind the words. “Shit, I expected it, but the reality…. Hell, Talis.”

Talis stroked Artemis’s dark hair, loving the silky texture of it. “Necessary, so I can be with you. I will never do it again.”

Thecop straightened, fixing Talis with hard eyes. “Do you mean that?”
“I mean it.” Talis sank his head onto Artemis’s shoulder. “Never again will I be responsible for a death. Every time it happens… I am diminished.”
“Didn’t look like that to me,” Artemis said dryly, hooking an arm around Talis’s neck. “Get me out of here.”

T
HEY
were in bed, arms around one another, legs entwined. They’d showered and now smelled of lavender soap. A ceiling fan turned overhead, sending gentle air across their nude bodies. Through the windows, they could hear waves washing up on the beach.

“They will. And now that I’m in your databases, they’ll know it was me.”
Artemis moved closer, lacing his fingers through Talis’s. “I was there. I can tell them what happened.”
He turned to place a kiss on the top of Artemis’s head. “Then you no longer think of me as a murderer?”
“You are not a murderer,” Artemis said slowly. “You offered him a choice, and he accepted.”
“Is that what you’ll tell the authorities?”
“That is what I’ll tell them.”
Talis moved back enough to look into Artemis’s eyes. “Are you satisfied, my love? Truly? Or does some question remain?”
Artemis did not avoid his eyes. “I suspect… the phoenix’s naturally soothing emanations might have had something to do with ‘the choice’, but I won’t quibble.”
“The phoenix wasn’t there. Talis was.”
“He
saw
you. You said it yourself.”
“We were close, connected.” Talis ran his hand over the muscles in Artemis’s abdomen, making them flutter. “You love me. We don’t need to wait any longer. Give yourself to me.”
“Not yet. I think… I have to get away for a while, put some distance between us, before I truly know how I feel about you.” Artemis gave Talis a look. “Do you understand?”
The answer was a long time in coming and his words carefully measured when he finally uttered them. “I understand.” Something in his heart twisted and broke.
Artemis tweaked one of Talis’s nipples, making it hard. “Then you’ll let me go home?”
Talis heaved a sigh. “You can get on a plane tomorrow and return to New York City.”
“I have to tell them… and I have to see how I feel when I’m away from you.” His voice reverberated with sadness. “I need… perspective. I don’t have that here.”
Talis’s voice was thick with emotion. “I know. Go… and come back to me if you can.” He would not cry, he would not, though tears burned behind his eyes.
It was time to let him go, let him return to what he knew and the people who loved him. And if it was meant to be, if Artemis truly loved him at last, as he’d felt in that hotel room, then he’d be back and they would be together.
Either way… he would accept his fate.

H
IS
mother couldn’t stop touching him. She took every opportunity to lay hands on him: an arm, a wrist, his cheek, even his hair. “I was so worried about you, Artie. No one knew where you were, and then Rachel said you were in Nepal. Nepal! A place I’ve only heard about on television.” She stroked his arm. “Are you sure you’re okay? No one hurt you?”

“I’m fine, Mom.” Artemis had said this maybe ten times already, and expected to say it ten more before she was sufficiently convinced he had survived his “ordeal.” He’d given her a whitewashed account of what had happened to him, and even as her eyes revealed doubt, she’d nodded and not questioned him more deeply. Her son was a cop. She knew he never told her everything.

She put a grilled cheese sandwich in front of him and filled a bowl with tomato soup. “Eat. You look thin.”
If anything, he’d gained a couple of pounds while away, but he obediently spooned soup into his mouth. “What would you think if I stopped being a detective?”
She made a sound that indicated disbelief. “You? Stop being a policeman? Never.” She slid a cup of tea across the table toward him. “It’s in your blood.”
He bit into the sandwich, chewed and swallowed, and then blew on the tea to cool it. “I’m considering it.”
She realized instantly that he was serious. Sitting across from him, she folded her hands in her lap. “Tell me.”
“I… met someone. If I decide to be with him, it would mean resigning from the force.”
“This someone… was he with you in Nepal?”
Nodding, he stuffed half the sandwich in his mouth. He’d been back just a couple of hours. The first person he’d contacted had been his mom, heading straight to her house from the airport. On the way into the city in a cab, he’d called Rachel and told her he was back. She’d screamed so loud, it hurt his ear. She would tell Numbnuts he was back and meet him later.
“Who is he, this man?”
Artemis smiled, thinking about that. “Unlike anyone I’ve met before.” He finished and put down his spoon. What could he tell her about Talis that made any sense at all? “Special.”
She smiled. “Those we love are always special. More soup?”
“I’ve had enough, thanks.” Nervously, he picked up the spoon and tapped it on the table. “Do you believe in magic?”
“You mean like tricks? With cards and stuff?”
Artemis felt like an idiot. “Real magic, no tricks.”
She searched his face. “Artie… are you okay? You don’t sound like yourself.”
Hysterical laughter tickled the back of his throat, but he bit it down, turning it into a cough. “I’ve had an interesting few weeks. I see things differently, so no, I’m not quite myself,and I think… I like it.”
She rested a hand on his, stopping his movement with the spoon. “What are you trying to say?”
The sun was pouring through the starched kitchen curtains, but he felt little heat. Fall was in New York and winter coming soon, but in Belize, it was warm and the water was a chorus of blues. “I love him.” He laughed, surprised at how easily the words came out. “Talis.” The sound of that name was sweet on his tongue.
“The man who took you away?” She frowned. “Maybe it’s that, you know, Stockholm syndrome, where the captive falls in love with the captor.”
Shaking his head, he shoved the bowl away. “It wasn’t like that.” He started playing with the spoon again, caught himself, and tossed it in the bowl, where it clattered too loudly. “It
was
, at first. I mean, he did kidnap me, but he had a reason for doing it, and then, when I could have come back, I stayed.”
I could have gone home. He wouldn’t have stopped me. His vague threat that first day in Nepal hadn’t meant a thing. He’d been bluffing. How the hell hadn’t I known that?
“You’d give up everything for him?” Her tone was disapproving, but he’d expected that.
“He travels a lot. If I didn’t go with him, I’d never see him.” He wanted to tell her all of it, but prudence stopped him. Artemis still remembered Phoenix clearly. He hadn’t forgotten anything. He could even recall the particular pattern of feathers around Phoenix’s amethyst eyes. The thought of forgetting the details saddened him, and soon, according to Ammon, he
would
forget.
“I’ve made a point not to interfere in your life,” she said, touching his forearm, “but if you do this, I think you’ll regret it. You’re a good policeman. You help people. What will you do with him?”
She had a point. What
would
he do? Follow Talis from country to country as he healed those who came to him while Artemis stood in the background, watching? How soon would he get bored out of his mind? How long would his love for Talis last if Artemis had no purpose beyond making Talis happy?
Suddenly sobered, and unhappy about it, he stood, grabbing his jacket off the back of the chair. “I have to meet Rachel.”
She jumped up. “I’m sorry I upset you. I do want you to be happy, Artie, but please think this through before making a decision.” She followed him to the back door; no one visiting her ever used the front door. “I know it’s been hard since Richard left, but don’t let loneliness push you into something you’ll regret.”