Refuge (9 page)

I moved forward until my hand was touching
the seats. Then I bent and strained to see through the darkness. It
looked like I was going to have to go in after it. Wonderful. No so
long ago, I had stood up to my chest in freezing sea water facing a
pack of possessed wharf rats. I’d rather go back and do that all
over again than go under these seats. If I could get close enough
to touch the bazerat, I should be able to calm him – if he didn’t
try to eat me first. I just hoped the other one kept his distance
until I worked my magic on his brother.

The world sounded hollow under the seats, and
every move I made seemed to resonate in my ears, though I was going
as quietly as possible. It wasn’t as dark as I thought now that I
was down here and my eyes were getting used to the gloom. Light
from the windows made its way between the seats to create lighter
patches, and I tried to stick to them as much as possible.
Unfortunately, the bazerat kept away from them, which meant I was
going to have to leave them as well.

All right, where the heck are you?
I stopped and
listened, but the room was silent. Taking two more steps, I stopped
again and stared ahead of me at the dark shape huddled a few feet
away. It wasn’t running away so at least that was something. Now if
it would only stay still . . .

A thump followed by the sounds of scurrying
on the other side of the room made me whirl around, fearful of an
attack from that direction. My head knocked against the bottom of a
seat, and I stumbled before I tripped over my own feet and fell
forward. I landed on my stomach, knocking the air from my lungs and
sending the knife skidding across the floor. Letting out a moan, I
looked up into the furry face of the bazerat standing less than a
foot away. Before I could move, its mouth opened impossibly wide,
like it was on hinges, and I got a close-up look at the rows of
sharp teeth inside.

“Oh shit!” I squealed as it leapt at my
face.

My arms came up to protect my head, and one
of the long incisors scraped my palm, leaving a shallow cut that
burned like the devil. There was no time to worry what kind of
venom the bazerat might have because I was too preoccupied with
wrapping my hands around its neck to hold it away from my face.

As soon as I touched it, the bazerat began to
twist and screech, trying to get away from me. The only time a
creature had reacted to my power like this was when I had
encountered a rat possessed by a Hale witch. But I could sense no
foreign presence in this creature. The bazerat was truly afraid of
me, and I didn’t know what to do.

I felt it then, the strange prickly static
sliding over my skin. The bazerat went nuts, clawing at my arms,
which were protected for the most part by my sleeves, and
struggling so violently to break free of my grasp that I knew I
wouldn’t be able to hold it much longer. I began to pull my power
back inside me, hoping that would calm the bazerat. I thought it
was working until a small surge of electricity shot from my hands
and right into the creature. The bazerat went stiff for a few
seconds then collapsed limply in my hands.

“What the hell?” I sat up, holding the
unconscious creature. I knew it was still alive because I could
feel a pulse, slow and steady beneath my fingers. How long it would
remain knocked out was another matter. I freed one hand to fumble
around for the knife, and once I found it, I staggered to my feet.
There was no telling where the other bazerat was, and I’d rather
get this one locked safely in his crate before his brother decided
to come looking for him.

I released a sigh of relief when I slid the
lock into place on the crate holding the unconscious bazerat. “One
down, one to go.” I felt a lot more confident now that I only had
one left to contend with.

The second bazerat proved to be a lot more
slippery than the first one, and he led me on a crazy chase before
I finally managed to corner him. He wasn’t nearly as brave without
his brother, but he still hissed and bared his teeth menacingly at
me whenever I got close. He freaked when I dived, got my hands
around him, and gave him a taste of my power. Once again the weird
static electricity surged through me, and I had to fight to keep it
from zapping the life right out of the creature. I wanted to
capture him, not kill him. Still, it knocked him out cold and I was
able to tuck him safely in his crate. I stood back and surveyed the
two sleeping bazerats that looked so harmless now. But I knew
better. I shuddered as I headed for the door. I hoped I never ran
into a whole pack of those things.

“Well, I’m happy to see you are still in one
piece,” grated Celine when I emerged from the building, and I
couldn’t help but notice that her expression did not match her
words.

Except for a few scratches, I was unharmed,
and I felt pretty proud of myself for finishing the task. “Piece of
cake,” I said, moving past her.

“Wait,” she barked, and I stopped walking as
she opened the door and went into the building. In less than a
minute she was back with a scowl on her face. “You’re not done. Get
back in there and finish them off.”

“They are back in their cages where they
can’t hurt anyone. There is no need to kill them.”

Celine took a step toward me, towering over
me by at least six inches. “The task was to kill them. So kill them
or you fail.”

“The task was to
neutralize
them, and they are
neutralized. If I have to kill senselessly to pass your test, then
you can go ahead and fail me.” I tossed the knife on the ground
between us and walked over to stand by Michael, who was gawking at
me like I’d just sprouted another head. I half expected Celine to
come after me, but she had apparently decided to let it drop and
was already looking for another trainee to enter the building.
First, they had to get another pair of bazerats since mine were out
cold. I hid my smile of satisfaction.

“Well, well, the kitten has claws after all,”
drawled Jordan, who walked over with Olivia to join us.

“What the heck did you do in there, Sara?”
Michael wanted to know, forgetting his shyness for once.

“I caught them and put them back in their
cages.” I conveniently omitted the part where electricity had shot
from my fingertips.

Terrence laughed. “Why go through all the
trouble when it’s easier to kill them?”

I met his mocking gaze and shrugged. “Anyone
can kill. Taking them alive is a lot more of a challenge, don’t you
think?”

He scoffed, but I could see it in his eyes;
the gauntlet had been thrown. “I’ll go next,” he called to Celine
before he stalked off.

I watched Celine talking to Terrence. Of
course, she looked quite pleasant now that she was talking to
someone besides me. If Celine had been human, I might have blamed
her attitude toward me on a natural female aversion to undines. But
she was Mohiri, so she was supposed to be immune to that. “What is
her problem anyway?” I muttered to no one in particular.

“You.”

I frowned at Jordan. “Me? I just met her
twenty minutes ago.”

“She’s jealous of you,” Olivia said in a
voice that wouldn’t carry to the trainer. “Supposedly, she and
Nikolas Danshov go way back and she’s still got it bad for
him.”

I pictured Nikolas with cold, beautiful
Celine and something hardened in my gut. “What does that have to do
with me?”

“Let me see.” Jordan tapped a finger against
her lips. “Could it have something to do with how much time Nikolas
spent in Maine protecting a certain pretty little orphan?”

“What? No, it wasn’t . . . You don’t
understand.” I felt a blush creeping up my neck. “It wasn’t like
that. We don’t even get along.”

Jordan smiled. “Uh-huh.”

“No, really. He was just doing his job. I
didn’t want him around any more than he wanted to be there.”

Jordan and Olivia laughed, and it was Olivia
who spoke first. “Nikolas is one of the best warriors on the
planet
, and
his job does not include babysitting orphans.”

I looked from one to the other. “I don’t
understand. He found me, killed the bad guys, and brought me here.
Isn’t that what warriors do?”

It was Michael who answered. “Some warriors
do, but you’re the first orphan Nikolas has ever brought in.”

Jordan and Olivia watched me closely while I
digested that piece if information. Nikolas had never brought in
anyone before me? Well, that certainly explained his lack of
patience; he obviously had no experience with orphans. Whatever his
reason for doing it, I knew for certain it was not because of any
romantic feelings he might have for me as the girls implied. It was
more likely his male ego; I’d challenged him and he couldn’t handle
it. “I know what you’re insinuating but trust me, there is nothing
going on between me and Nikolas.”

Jordan let out a short laugh. “You are
probably the only female in existence who would go out of her way
to deny having a thing with him.”

“God what I wouldn’t give . . . ” Olivia
fanned herself. “Hot doesn’t begin to describe that man.” She
sighed. “Can you imagine what it feels like to have those arms
around you?”

There was no way I was going to tell them
that I knew what it felt like to be in Nikolas’s arms. But his
embrace had been comforting instead of romantic. I could not
understand how he had treated me with such kindness one day and
then taken off without a good-bye two days later. I admit I’m not
the best at reading people, but how could I have been so wrong
about him?

“Booyah! Take that!”

The four of us turned to stare at Terrence,
who was emerging from the arena looking like he had just gone a few
rounds with an angry badger. His hair was sticking out all over the
place, his shirt and jeans were shredded in places, and he had a
bloody scratch on one cheek. But he was grinning like he had won
the lottery. He walked past Celine and Sahir and came up to me, his
hazel eyes shining. “Now
that
was fun.”

I glowered at him. “Yes, I’m sure killing is
a real blast.”

“Who said anything about killing? And if you
look at the time, I believe I finished faster than you.” He touched
his cheek and winced. “Mean little bastards, though.”

“You didn’t kill them?” Josh asked in
disbelief.

Terrence chuckled. “Sara is right; anyone can
kill them, but it takes a
real
warrior to take them alive.” It wasn’t exactly
what I had said, but I decided not to correct him.

Celine strode over to us, and her gaze raked
across mine. “What the hell has gotten into you people?”

Terrence shot me a grin. “Just mixing it up a
bit, making it a little more fun.”

“This is not supposed to be fun,” Celine bit
out. She pointed at me and Terrence. “You two, you’re done here. Go
cause trouble somewhere else.” She spun away from us and yelled,
“Is there anyone here who wants to do this thing correctly?”

“Later,” I said to the others, glad to get
away from Celine and her killing. I set off toward the main
building, and Terrence ran to catch up with me.

“Seriously, that was a blast,” he panted.
“Who would ever have thought not killing demons would be fun?”

I came up short. “The bazerats are
demons?”

“Of course. What did you think they
were?”

“I don’t know – mutant rats?”

He snickered like I’d made a joke. “We
covered them in class last year.”

“I wasn’t here last year.” I had learned a
lot about the world from Remy, but nothing like the formal
education Mohiri kids received. I had years of learning to catch up
on.

I resumed walking. The bazerats were demons,
and my power made them freak out instead of calming them. Demons
fear Fae magic, and it must have hurt them when I touched them. It
could also be why my power had reacted to them and zapped them. It
still didn’t explain the little flare-ups that were happening every
day now. Was my elemental side growing stronger as Aine had hoped
it would?

My stomach clenched as a scary thought came
to me. I was surrounded by people with demons inside them, and I
had no control over whatever was happening to me. What if I hurt
someone without meaning to? I was half Fae, half demon, and even
the Fae admitted they had no idea what powers I would develop.
Nikolas had brought me here to keep me safe, but what if
I
was the
dangerous one?

I quietly approached the library. It had been
three days since my encounter with Desmund, and even though Tristan
had encouraged me to come back, I felt a little apprehensive about
seeing Desmund again. I didn’t want to upset him and cause some
kind of setback, but I had to admit I was more than a little
curious about him.

The library door was open, and the room
looked much as it had the first time I’d been here. I would have
thought the room empty if the slightest rustling of paper behind
one of the high backed chairs hadn’t alerted me to the presence of
someone else. Instead of announcing myself, I moved silently to the
bookcases to return the copy of
Jane Eyre
I had borrowed. I almost hated to
give it up, but I was excited to see what other treasures were
waiting on the shelves.

No way!
My eyes lit upon a perfectly preserved copy
of
Daniel
Deronda
. I slid the book off the shelf and opened the cover
to see that it was indeed a first edition. How many people got the
opportunity to appreciate classic literature like this?
Oh, Dad, what I
wouldn’t give for you to be able to see this.

I debated sitting by the fire, but if it was
Desmund in the chair – and I had a suspicion it was – he was
keeping to himself and I didn’t want to give him a reason to be
upset. He was used to having this room to himself, so it was
probably best to ease him into the idea of sharing the space. I
carried my book to the table near the window where there was a
small reading lamp. The chair wasn’t as nice as the ones by the
fire, but the book provided a happy diversion.