She's No Faerie Princess (29 page)

Fiona wanted nothing more than to take a hot bath,maybe in a solution of water and disinfectant. The taint ofthe demon's foul magic left her feeling contaminated, and

that was just from reading the residual magic it had left

on its victim.

She felt Walker's arm slip around her waist and pull heragainst his side, and she leaned into him gratefully. Beingwith him made the air seem a little less foul.

"Are you all right?"

She nodded. "I'm fine, but this is really bad news, Walker. We need to talk to Graham and Rafe again. And I need tosee if I can find Squick. I really, really hope he's beenable to turn up something useful."

"I'll call the club and see if they can meet us," Walker said, taking her chin in his hand and forcing her to meet his gaze. "Tell me what you saw."

She shivered a little and wished her denim jacket wouldturn into something warmer. She felt a soft flannel liningappear inside the material and knew her energy waswaning if she couldn't manage any better than that. She'ddone a lot of spells tonight. Small ones, but the drainadded up.

"I thought—well, I'd hoped that the attack on Shelby and Rachel had been one of opportunity," she said. "The selection of the human victims seemed random. I knew a demon should have been able to tell your sister and her friend were something other than human, but I thought maybe it hadn't realized that. Or maybe it was just so worked up that it didn't care who it attacked. But it knew, Walker. It chose Shelby and Rachel deliberately."

"What do you mean?"

She took a deep breath. "You know how I get energy

from when we touch? Well, it's possible for me to get energy from touching other folks, too, as long as there's some kind of connection between us. It isn't as good, because the connection isn't as strong, so for me it's not really worth it and I don't bother. Do you follow me?"

He growled. "So long as you follow that if you try touchinganyone else for energy, I'll break every bone in theirbody."

She choked back a laugh, knowing it came from tensionmore than humor. "Yes, well, anyway, demons work on atwisted version of the same principle. You know they feedon the hearts of their victims? That's because the heartcontains the life force of just about every creature youcan think of. Humans, Fae, shifters, almost everything."

Walker nodded, looking impatient.

"The difference between all those different kinds of folks

is the quality and the quantity of the life force.

Traditionally, demons have fed on human hearts because

humans make pretty easy pickings for demons. They're

small, they're weak, and most of them don't have any

idea of how to use magic to defend themselves. But I

imagine it's kind of like living on a vegetarian diet. It will

keep you alive, but if you're not on it by choice, you're

going to snap up a steak the first time you get a chance

at one. Others are the steak."

Walker swore and Annie made a sound of distress. Adamjust looked really uncomfortable.

"The life force of an Other is much… richer than the life force of a human. And the force of a Fae is richer still. That's why the Fae became demon hunters, and why we

fought so long and hard to win the Wars. We were fighting for our lives." She paused and gathered her strength to move on to the bad news. "So when a demon takes the heart of an Other, like Shelby, it gets a much bigger magical charge than it would have gotten out of the humans it killed. That's why it attacked her and Rachel. It was looking for more energy, and it knew it wouldn't be able to get it from a human. It wanted steak."

"Why the sudden change?"

"Because it's tired of doing the summoner's bidding," Fiona said, her voice betraying the sick feeling of dread that had crept over her. "It's trying to break the hold of its summoner, and when it does, I'm not sure if anything but a Fae army will be able to stop it."

They went immediately to Vircolac to inform Graham and Rafe of what Fiona had discovered, but they didn't staylong. Walker wasn't in the mood to socialize and Fionadidn't want to waste time. She needed to try to contact Squick to see if he'd been able to discover anything thatmight help them track down the demons or the sorcererwho had summoned them.

As they walked out the door, Tess pressed a small clothpouch into Fiona's hand and smiled encouragingly. "It'sglass from the explosion," she explained. "I checked itout, and it's safe. The spell that made the glass shatterwas a one-shot deal. It didn't leave anything behind foryou to worry about. If you're going to try and contact yourfriends from Faerie, I thought it might help. It's a linkbetween the worlds that you can focus on."

Fiona held the pouch in her hand, worrying it back andforth between her fingers on the trip back home. She'dstopped thinking of it reflexively as "Walker's apartment"and no longer had any trouble picturing herself there withhim. She tried not to think about what that meant, but thatpretty much equated to what an ostrich was trying to dowhen it buried its head in the sand.

She stood in the middle of the living room with the littlepacket of glass in her hand and a frown on her face while Walker flipped the locks and turned out most of the lights. When he finished, he cupped her face in his hands andleaned down to kiss her briefly.

"Are you okay to do this?" he asked. "I don't know what kind of a spell you need to do, but are you sure you have the energy for it? You've done a lot today, and I could help you recharge if you needed it."

Fiona laughed. Humor was pretty much the only thing stillholding her together. She hadn't realized how tired shewas until they had returned to the calm quiet of theapartment. "
 
Mo fáell
, if you want to see me naked, all youhave to do is ask."

He smiled and kissed her again, lingering a little this time. "I'm glad to hear you say it, Princess. But I was beingserious. Are you okay to work any more magic?"

"I'm fine. I promise. Anyway, the call isn't so much a spell as a… well, a little like a phone call, I guess. Wireless, of course. All I have to do is put it out there that I want to talk to Babbage and Squick, and wait for them to answer." She shrugged. "I just hope they're not screening their calls."

Walker nodded and helped her off with her jacket, tossingit on the back of the sofa. His hands chafed up and downher arms, and it felt wonderful. She'd been cold sincethey'd left his sister's house.

"Okay, let's get this over with," he said. "Do you need to

concentrate? Should I go in the other room?"

Smiling, Fiona set the small handful of glass down on theend table and lifted her arms to drape them around hisneck. She pressed her head against his shoulder and letherself relax. The night had left her emotionally andphysically exhausted, and she relished his strength. "It'salready done. I placed the call. Think of it as a kind ofmagical answering machine. Now we just wait for Babbage and Squick to check their messages and giveus a call back."

Walker grunted and wrapped his arms around her. Forthe first time, their embrace felt less like a bonfire andmore like a comforting source of warmth. She felt himpress a kiss to the top of her head and murmured into hisshirt.

"In that case," he said, his voice a soft rumble, "what do you say we get ourselves to bed and try and get some sleep? Neither of us has had enough of that lately, and I have a feeling we should seize the opportunity while we have it."

Fiona mustered up the energy to flash him a grin. "Youwon't hear me arguing. So long as you don't try to stealthe blankets."

He chuckled and took her hand to lead her into thebedroom. "You can have the blankets, Princess, but I

doubt you'll need them. I think I can keep you warm."

Chuckling softly, she followed him into the darkness. "Ibet you can."

CHAPTER 21

Fiona stirred and shifted and blinked into the unlit room. She could hear Walker's even breathing behind her andfeel the warmth of him spooned against her back, onelarge, hairy arm draped over her waist like a blanket. Hishand possessively cupped her breast, but she reallycouldn't mind. Not when his touch kept her from freezing. The Lupine didn't own any blankets, which she supposedshe should have expected, considering he gave off asmuch heat as your average five-story bonfire. She figuredshe'd slept under her last cozy quilt.

Closing her eyes for a moment, Fiona braced herself fora wave of restlessness and unease, crested by a healthydose of panic, but none materialized. Instead, her heartfelt strangely light and content. Very strangely,considering the events of the last few days. She couldalmost feel it smiling, and she couldn't fathom any othersource for the strange new energy that hummed throughher. It didn't feel quite like the magic she was used to, butshe sensed the power in it. How could she not, when itthrummed through her, circulating like the blood in herveins?

She was surprised that the vibrations of the energy hadn'tdisturbed Walker. But maybe this was normal to him, this "mating" thing. He hadn't seemed nearly as thrown by itas she had felt. Of course, Walker hadn't grown up in Faerie, where everything lasted forever. Except love.

There, she knew, lay the fundamental difference betweenthem and the seeming paradox of their two worlds. In thisplace, where lifetimes passed in the blink of a Fae eye,the concept of love as eternal seemed to pervade thecollective consciousness. Creatures with life spans soshort that generations of them had lived and died before Fiona had ceased to be called a child were willing topledge all of their existence to one another in the name oflove. Yet in Faerie, where age held no danger and lifestretched out nearly as long as one willed it, couples metand parted with the same ease and regularity of theseasons. Relationships in Fiona's world were the onlytruly mortal things. The Fae concept of marriage hadmore to do with passion or politics and the concerns ofsuccession than with undying devotion. Like the seasons,the Fae said, everything changed, so how could a heartthat beat into eternity stay constant?

Fiona had never been able to answer, and the dark roomaround her offered no suggestions.

If she was going to be honest with herself, she wouldhave to admit that she'd never been so confused in herentire life. She had seen with her own eyes that the heatthat drew lovers together inevitably cooled. So why, then,did even the thought of parting from Walker bring backthat hideous roiling feeling in the pit of her stomach?

Fiona looked down at the hand on her breast and

scowled. How could he continue to sleep so peacefully while she lay there and agonized? He was the one who had started all this. Her turmoil was all his fault. She'd felt fine, right up until he'd used that damned
 
m
-word. Being called someone's mate when you thought you were engaged in a mutually satisfying little fling was bad enough, but then he'd gone and been so amazingly sweet with his sister that Fiona had thought her heart might melt and leak out of her chest.

She'd known then she was doomed. How in the Lady'sname was she supposed to not love a man who'd heldhis sister gently while she wept at the same time that hiseyes glinted hard and bright with the need to exactrevenge on the cause of her grief? How was she notsupposed to love a man who made her forget everythingin two worlds, except for the way it felt when he touchedher?

The problem, she supposed, lay in the fact that shecouldn't. She couldn't
 
not
 
love him. That ship had sailed along time ago. But unlike in some of the human filmsshe'd seen and novels she'd read, admitting she'd fallenin love with a werewolf didn't solve all her problems. Itcreated more, one of which kept circling in her head like acrow above a battlefield: Fiona was Fae and immortal; Walker was neither. She didn't know if she had thestrength to watch him grow old and die while eternitystretched before her, looking less like a blessing andmore like a cruel sentence.

Instinctively she stirred, as if to move away from theuncomfortable thought. Walker's arm tightened aroundher and he nuzzled her hair.

"Stop thinking so hard," he rumbled. "It's disturbing my

beauty sleep."

She found herself laughing. "Oh, well, in that case,forgive me. I know you need all of that you can get."

He nipped her earlobe. "Smart-ass."

"You're just noticing?"

He soothed the nip with a kiss and cuddled her closer. Ashe buried his face in her shoulder, his hands began toroam, skimming over her in light, almost soothingcaresses. Only Fiona didn't feel soothed, and judging bythe erection pressed up against her bottom, neither did Walker. Instead, she felt the familiar tingling in her skinand melting in her belly. Everything seemed to dissolve,going warm and soft and liquid, when he touched her.

Walker discovered that for himself when he moved hishand down over her clenching stomach muscles and slidbetween her thighs. That's when her insides stoppedseizing and started doing cartwheels.

He cupped her, and she melted into his hand like honey,sweet and sticky. She heard his low growl of approval,and his fingers parted her, gliding through her slick foldsto find her entrance. He probed, and she squirmed, herbreath catching in her throat and then rattling out on aragged moan. Shifting, he sank two fingers deep insideher.