Tempest’s Legacy (35 page)

I had one false start, where I hit the bricked-in door and it merely buckled.

“Oops,” I said sheepishly, and I tried again. This time I not only blew the bricks out of the doorway, but I took a bit of the doorframe as well.

I smiled at my handiwork before I walked forward—mage ball in hand and shields up—to peer out my impromptu exit and into the dusk.

“Coast is clear,” I called after a minute. “Let’s head oooooooouuuuaaah!”

My words trailed off and ended in a shout as there was a tremendous blast that rocked the foundations of the house.

The cavalry has arrived
, I thought as a heady cocktail of fear, pride, and excitement washed through me. I was proud
of my friends for finding me, and excited they were rescuing us (even if I was already taking care of that myself ), but terrified of what Anyan was going to do when he saw me.

Maybe a spanking?
my libido volunteered unhelpfully.

“Okay, let’s get out of here,” I started to say, right as the door we’d barred behind us flung open, a guard powering through on a wave of magic and adrenaline.

And then he was down, taken out by the mage ball I sent zinging at his face. He was shielded at the back, not expecting an attack from the front.

As he fell, he was trampled by a small cluster of guards that stampeded through after him. They took one look at me, another mage ball ready to fly, and they all fell, quivering, to the floor.

“Don’t kill me!” one guard shouted.

“Call off your Alfar!” another cried.

The other two just whimpered.

“Um, yes!” I said. “Stay there! Or I will… summon my Alfar!”

My Alfar?
I thought.
How the fuck did we get a… Moo!
I realized suddenly. The halflings of Tryptich had come to rescue me. I nearly started dancing at that idea, but I didn’t think it would be too intimidating to the men at my feet if their captor started gamboling about like an idiot.

I kept my own mage balls at the ready, prepared to remove the cock-’n’-balls off any male that moved a muscle. We listened, all together, as another series of blasts rocked the mansion, followed by all sorts of unpleasant screams and noises. Eventually, there was trampling from the room above us, and the sound of fighting, as every corner of the mansion was cleaned of filth.

It was like hearing the Liberty Bell strike when voices
came shouting from inside the basement. There were a few angry screams from guards who were quickly silenced, and then the sound of footsteps coming slow but steady through the rabbit warren of rooms before us.

“Hello?” I shouted. “We’re here!”

And then I saw him.

Anyan
, I thought, my whole being trembling at the sight of his big body. He was striding forward, one large hand cupping a mage ball, the other holding an assault rifle. Then he saw me, too. The mage ball disappeared, the rifle was passed behind him, to Capitola. As for the expression on his face…

Dude, he looks pissed…

The rest of that thought was cut off as the barghest practically flew into the room, grabbed my elbow, and started to haul me out of the gap I’d made in the wall. I protested, needing to stay with Iris, till I saw Capitola take her in hand. Wrapping a long arm around my friend, the only other person I would have trusted with Iris’s safety besides myself or Anyan called for a medic and led Iris to sit down on an overturned bucket. Knowing my friend was in good hands, I let myself be dragged.

“Um, Anyan,” I said, trying to catch his attention as he pulled me forward. It was almost fully evening now and I was stumbling in the dark, but he just kept dragging me toward a shed on the outskirts of the little garden.

He
is
going to spank us
, my libido purred.

Or kill us, you idiot
, came my virtue’s dry rejoinder.

“Anyan, can we please talk about…”

“No,” he growled, hauling me about to face him. We were behind the shed now, hidden from view, although I could still hear an occasional random explosion from behind us.

“Fuck you, Jane! Do you have any idea what you put me through? What the fuck were you thinking?” Shocked, I stared at the barghest’s red, angry face. His hands were clamped on my forearms as he shook me roughly and randomly. His grip hurt, but not as much as the look of fury on his face.

He’s really
yelling
at me
, I thought, suddenly scared.

“Were you even thinking? At all? About anyone besides yourself? What would I have told your father if you’d died! What would I have done, Jane? What would I have done!”

Between Anyan shouting, his mention of my father, and hearing the slightest hitch in his voice when he said that second “What would I have done,” I did what any self-respecting warrior woman did after getting kidnapped, rescuing herself and her friend, and single-handedly capturing her first coterie of bad guys.

I started crying.

Hard.

With that, Anyan stopped yelling. Then, to my surprise, he dropped to his knees in front of me. Wrapping his arms around my hips, he drew me forward to bury his head in my breasts. But there was nothing sexual in the gesture; it was simply one of comfort. After a shocked few seconds, I realized he was reassuring himself as much as, or more than, he was me.

Tentatively, I reached down and stroked my hand over his rough curls, only to find that they indeed felt pretty rough. But they were Anyan’s curls, and they were beautiful.

My fist clenched in his hair, and my free arm snaked around his head, pulling him tighter against me. I could
feel wetness at my breasts, and unless some errant god had intervened and I’d begun lactating, such wetness could mean only one thing: Anyan was crying. Which only set me off again.

“I’m so sorry,” I crooned. “So sorry… so sorry…” His only response was to mumble something inarticulate, over and over, that eventually revealed itself to be, “Never again.”

“Never what, baby?” I whispered. “Never what?”

“Never letting you leave the house again,” he replied his voice taking on a stubborn edge.

If you’re going to make a go of things with the barghest, you’ll have to work on his social skills
, my brain commented drily.

Naked tutorials!
my libido suggested, unable to believe that the barghest was pressed against my breasts and there were still clothes between us.

“Definitely never gonna let you leave Rockabill,” Anyan finally conceded, pulling away from me. He gave one mighty sniffle, lifted his T-shirt to scrub his face (revealing his thick, deliciously furry torso), and then sat back on his heels, staring up at me.

“You scared the shit out of me, Jane. I haven’t been that scared since… since forever,” he finished, his voice still strained.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “But I had to do something.”

“Just never like
that
ever again. Not the running. I nearly had a fucking heart attack when I realized you were gone. Plus, I seriously nearly killed Julian,” he admitted, the tip of his nose twitching with emotion.

“Is Julian still alive?”

“Yes. Barely, but yes.”

“Good,” I murmured, and then, without thinking, I raised my hand to soothe away his anger before pausing.

Do I get to touch him now?
I thought.
Is it as easy as all that?

As if realizing what made me pause, Anyan reached forward, took my hand, and laid it against his cheek, inclining his head so that his long nose nuzzled the inside of my wrist.

I’ll give him something to nuzzle!
chimed in my incorrigible libido. My virtue, for once, didn’t interject with anything serious, or pessimistic, or snarky.

If touching was that easy
, it suggested, to the shock of my libido,
what about a kiss?

I stepped forward. Anyan, sensing my intention, helped by pulling me toward him, his big thumb caressing the scars that traced my wrists.

My knees suddenly weak, I was in front of him… I was leaning forward, so slowly, so nervously, I was…

Watching as Ryu raced around the corner of the shed, skidding to a halt as he saw me with Anyan. His face went from exultation at seeing me alive, to confusion, and then to anger.

“Oh, fuck,” I said, causing Anyan’s eyes—which had snapped shut like those of a virgin schoolgirl about to be kissed by her beau for the first time—to fly open.

“Huh?” he asked, twisting around to see Ryu as I extricated myself from the barghest’s grip.

“Ryu!” I called, swearing again as he bolted. “Fuck. I gotta go… explain…”

Anyan’s face was pained, but he released me. “It’s not… It’s… Shit,” I said articulately before fleeing after the baobhan sith.

“Ryu,” I shouted when I’d cleared the shed, watching him stride angrily across the field. “Ryu!”

He stopped then, but kept his back to me as I caught up.

Why, exactly, are we chasing after him, again?
my libido questioned, horrified that I’d just run away from Anyan to chase after Ryu. For the second time that evening, my virtue was in agreement.

’Cause I owe him more than that
, I scolded.
I owe him… closure.

It was only then that I realized exactly why I had chased after Ryu.

“Ryu,” I said as I panted up to him.

“Jane,” he replied, his voice laced with ice.

“Look,” I said. “I’m sorry, I really am, but…”

“Save it. I can fill in the blanks.”

“It’s not like I intended this—”

Ryu held up his hand, angrily cutting me off. His hazel eyes glinted in the falling dusk and his fangs were extended—and not with lust—when he finally spoke again.

“Why, Jane? Why? I would have given you the
world
.”

My heart clenched convulsively as he put into words what I’d had such difficulty articulating.

“That’s the whole problem, Ryu. I don’t
want
the world. I never have.”

He stared into my face, uncomprehending. He would never understand; or, if he did, it wouldn’t be for a very long time.

Then Ryu turned on his heel and strode into the darkness, alone.

And that’s all she wrote
, I thought, reconfirming that
Ryu and Jane were done. Watching his shape grow dim, then disappear in the gathering darkness, I was unaccountably sad for something that I knew had to end.

Then I saw a huge bubble of power float through the air, containing a writhing mass of living bodies, most dressed in scrubs. Underneath it strode Moo, her arms aloft as she played with her sphere containing doctors and guards, shaking it like a rapist-filled maraca.

Beside her Shar cavorted, howling with laughter, cheering and pumping her fists in the air exultantly. When I saw her white teeth flash in her dark face, I realized Moo was smiling as well, despite her Alfar calm.

At least someone is having a good time tonight
, I thought as I went to look for Anyan Barghest, another man who was undoubtedly rather miffed at me right about now.

T
hank you so much,” I murmured into Moo’s side. After a moment, I felt her slender arms hug me back as she patted me awkwardly on the shoulder.

“It was my pleasure, Jane,” the Alfar-halfling intoned. And I knew she was telling the truth: She’d liberated the prisoners held at that mansion with even more gusto than she’d rounded up the guards. “I’m just sorry we did not catch the Healer.”

I drew back from her and nodded. “Damned getaway harpies… But we’ll catch up with him eventually.”

She smiled at me then. A bloodthirsty little smile that both thrilled and chilled me.

“My turn! My turn!” Shar cooed, practically launching herself on top of me. I laughed, hugging her back, jumping when she grabbed my ass. “Soooo yummy,” the succubus-halfling said, pulling away from me with a sigh.

I couldn’t help but giggle. “I think you’re yummy, too, Shar,” I said before turning to Capitola.

“And thank you,” I said, going to give the tall woman her own hug.

“You’re welcome, Jane. Really, it was our pleasure. That felt… substantive.”