Seduced by Crimson (17 page)

It was too late; Patrick had already begun. He closed his eyes and began to pray. Xiao Fei didn't hear the words, but she saw his lips move, felt the shift in his energy. It was strange; as an acupuncturist, she daily felt for the shift and flow of a body's energy, but never had she met anyone who could consciously change himself the way Patrick was now doing.

She felt his energy grow stronger. She felt him merge his rhythm with the child's. She pulled back slightly to give him more room. The beat of his power was that overwhelming—and yet it was amazingly subtle, too, gentle and tender as he slid into the child's life force. How could anyone be so sensitive as to find the weakened pulse of Jian Ying's wolf essence? Xiao Fei was in awe.

She looked into Patrick's face and thought she could see the shift: a slight yellowing of his eyes, a tiny elongation in his bones. For a moment she saw the wolf in his body—an echo of the child. Energetically, he and the boy were one. Then Patrick's power began to grow stronger and stronger, bringing the child with him.

In Xiao Fei's lap, the boy began to change. He grunted, and his bones began to shift.

"No!" Mrs. Wang screeched. She leaped forward to drag Patrick back.

"Don't touch him!" Xiao Fei shouted. "You'll kill us all!" It was a lie. There was no danger to anyone but Jian Ying and Patrick. Their energies were linked, and so if the child died, Patrick was also at risk. But Mrs. Wang didn't know that, and the fear was enough to pull her back.

Meanwhile, the boy continued to change. His body was stretching. Xiao Fei felt the prick of fur begin on his pale skin. He released a moan of pain, and she bit her lip. Was the shift to wolf always painful? Or just the first time?

She heard Patrick grunt with effort, and her gaze leaped to his face. He was sweating and his hands were beginning to tremble where they rested on the boy's belly. Looking down, she watched half in terror, half in awe as his hands elongated beside Jian Ying's. She saw paws, claws, and heard a grunt of pain. Patrick's teeth were clenched, and she began to realize just what he was risking to save the child. He was not a natural werewolf; this shift was not normal to him, and had to be hugely painful if not downright dangerous.

"Patrick," she whispered, not knowing what to say.

Suddenly Jian Ying leaped in her arms. The move was so startling that she was unprepared. Suddenly she had a twisting, snarling wolf cub in her arms. Thank goodness he was still weak, or she would have lost him altogether. As it was, the boy-wolf half jumped, half fell to the floor.

Xiao Fei was quick to recover. Even if she weren't, Mrs. Wang's squeals would have startled her into focus. Xiao Fei grabbed the snarling cub and held it back. Meanwhile, Patrick had obviously exhausted himself. He fell backward, his eyes glazing over. His body trembled as his natural energy signature began to reestablish itself. She watched him shudder, heard his moan as he curled into himself. Then she felt his body energy return to what she'd felt before: that of a sleek, toned, fully human man. His skin remained slick with sweat.

How much had it cost him to heal Jian Ying? Xiao Fei glanced down at the cub. It too had exhausted itself. The surge of power as the wolf asserted itself had faded. It wasn't struggling as much as before. In fact, as she turned her attention to his soft, furry body, the cub shuddered and half fell, half cuddled into her body.

"Aw," Sam murmured from the side. "He's so cute."

And he was. Brown liquid eyes, big dark paws, and really big ears. He nipped lightly at her hand, licking even as he mouthed her skin. It tickled, and she couldn't help but smile. Jian Ying would live.

"He's biting! Get out! Get out!" Mrs. Wang screamed in terror, and Xiao Fei looked up in shock even as she tucked the cub tighter against her chest.

"He's not biting…" She began, but Mrs. Wang wasn't having any of it. She hauled on Xiao Fei's arm—the arm at Jian Ying's feet—and dragged her toward the door.

"Out! Out!"

Xiao Fei looked to the other Wangs, and she saw fear in a variety of degrees. But the thought was so different from what she herself was feeling, she could barely comprehend it. How could these people be afraid of a little puppy?

Sam was helping Patrick stand. Patrick's face was taut with exhaustion, but his legs were clearly strengthening; he stood with some semblance of his former grace.

"Are you all right?" she called to him.

He nodded, but didn't bother trying to speak over Mrs. Wang, who continued to screech and shove. Xiao Fei didn't try to fight her either—there was no way she could both protect little Jian Ying and defend her place in the basement shelter. "All right, all right!" she finally said. "We'll go, but he's just a little boy. There's no danger to you."

This last attempt to sway them had no effect. Xiao Fei could see it now: the bigotry caused by terror of infection. She sighed, knowing that a day ago she had felt the same, even with her immunity. But after feeling the energy, the power, the
life
that pulsed within the cub, she couldn't revile him. Jian Ying was a living creature, and that was a wonderful thing. Didn't these others understand that?

Of course they didn't. They couldn't feel it as she had. They couldn't live it as Patrick had. They were merely afraid. And so Xiao Fei sighed and allowed them to push her and Patrick out the door.

"I'll be back for my plants," she said firmly to old Mr. Wang. Of all the Wang family, he alone could guess the significance of those fragile leaves.

"They will be safe, Phoenix Tear," the old man answered. She thought about demanding her Glock back, but decided against it. She'd rather it remained as payment for her return here after she dealt with the boy and Patrick. Besides, she could hide herself from just about anything; it was more important that her plants have a safe place to rest.

So the Glock stayed behind while Mrs. Wang shoved them out. A second later, Xiao Fei was hunching over the puppy while gunfire rattled through the air.

From a card found in Patrick Lewis's journal.

Sept. 18, 1989

BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!

Come celebrate Patrick's seventeenth with a day at the beach! Surfers get breakfast at ten a.m. All the rest get dinner, cake, and entertainment from Jason the Dark Lord at the bonfire beginning at 7 P.M.

Patrick took a deep breath of soy sauce and ginger. Though the connection to Jian Ying was fading fast, he still retained enough wolf senses to smell and taste Chinatown with incredible clarity. What an amazing thing it must be to live as a werewolf, to sense life in all its glory. He licked his lips as the last of the ability faded. He was fully human again—and appallingly weak—and they were once again outside in the middle of a war.

"Where to next?" he asked.

Xiao Fei sighed. "I don't know."

"The werewolves," he suggested.

Xiao Fei looked down at the cub in her arms. She held it tightly, then ducked her head to rub a cheek against its fur. "He's stronger now," she said.

"He'll live" Patrick concurred. But they couldn't wander around LA with a were-child in their arms, not with gunfire every few blocks. They needed a place to regroup. Somewhere private where he could try again with Xiao Fei. "We have to get to the tunnels. We have to give him back—"

"To his own people," she finished. "I know."

He smiled at the reluctance in her voice. She'd obviously bonded with the boy. Her love flowed clear and strong to the child. Indeed, Patrick suspected that was half the reason the boy had survived.

Did Xiao Fei know how much the energy of her love had healed? Did anyone know how much power the simple act of loving created? Patrick doubted it. Few could understand; fewer still could see. If only they knew, if only the world could feel the power of an all-accepting love like he could… Well, it would be a different world.

"There's a subway station a couple blocks over," she suggested. "We'll go there."

They began moving at a depressingly ponderous pace. Patrick knew Xiao Fei was slowing up for him, and he tried to move quicker, but damn, he was tired. And the gate was still open, draining him more.

"We have to try again," he said, as much to himself as to her. "It was working. Back there on the rice sacks.
It was working
."

She glanced at him and didn't answer. She was avoiding the topic, but he couldn't let her. Too much was at stake.

"When we kissed," he pressed. "It was working." He spoke in short bursts when they paused at corners and before crossing streets.

She frowned at him. "You're too weak to try again."

"Every moment we wait, more demons can pour into our world. And Earth loses—"

"I know, I know."

They came to the subway tunnel. He touched her arm before she could dash inside. She pulled back, a question in her eyes. He gestured to the side, where a werewolf lurked in the shadows of a dumpster. It was clearly a sentry. The werewolves were on full alert.

"We've got one of their children," she whispered. "They shouldn't harm us."

He agreed. "But let's take it slow, okay? Wouldn't want to scare anyone."

They walked quickly—but not too quickly—down the steps. Jian Ying had settled into a fitful doze against Xiao Fei's chest, but who knew how long his quietness would last. Becoming one with a wolf had required enormous amounts of energy, and Patrick's stomach was already cramping with hunger. The cub wouldn't be far behind.

They made it to the bottom of the stairs, only to have their way blocked by two more large werewolves. The first sentry had shifted to block their retreat.

"We don't mean any harm," Patrick began, but the largest sentry cut him off.

"The tunnels are full. No room…" His voice trailed away as the cub shifted irritably in Xiao Fei's arms.

"We found him near the One-oh-one," Patrick said. "His mother was killed. Shot." He shook his head. "Many times. I'm sorry."

"He's Lysander clan," said the smallest sentry. He reached out a dirty hand to touch the cub's cheek. "But he shouldn't be able to change until adolescence." There was awe in his voice.

Patrick sighed. In for a penny, in for a pound. "He was sick. I had to activate his wolf DNA to survive."

Xiao Fei lifted her chin, clearly being forced to confess by her conscience. "He was poisoned. It was a mistake, but he's better now. I didn't know."