The Djinn's Dilemma (8 page)

Honest. Rukh ducked his head, grabbed his shirt and turned away. He hadn’t been completely honest and it never seemed to be the right time to give her the djinn talk. Regret swamped him, but she was already glancing at her computer. “I guess I better let you get back to work,” he said. “Want something to eat?”

“A sandwich would be great,” she said, settling into her chair.

When he returned with her sandwich and a bottle of water, she rewarded him with another kiss. A quick one, full of promise. “I just have to send it in.” She’d just clicked the mouse when her phone rang. She grabbed it out of her bag.

“Don’t answer it.”

She glanced at the small screen. “It’s Eric. I have to take it.”

He grabbed the arms of her chair and leaned down, trapping her. “There’s a reason why we are in a safe house.”

“I know,” she said. “The story is running tomorrow. I want to give the governor a chance to refute the charges.”

“Why?” The phone continued its jolly song, annoying the hell out of him.

“It’s the right thing to do.”

“What if they trace the call and find us?”

“Garza’s guys will be right behind,” she said. “He’s got the state police keeping an eye on everyone involved.”

Huffing out an exasperated breath, Rukh moved away from her. He didn’t like it, but Sarah had made up her mind. Stubborn woman.

He heard her say hello. She must have hit speaker because a voice, boyish and weary at the same time, floated into the room. “Hey, Sarah. I’ve got good news.”

“And it is…”

“Jake’s agreed to an exclusive interview with you. Be at the governor’s mansion at 3:00 p.m. today.”

That was less than two hours from now. He whipped around and they stared at each other. Tension stretched taut between them. Still holding his gaze, Sarah grimaced. “Sorry, that’s not possible.”

“You’re turning down an interview?” The man’s voice spiked with surprise, then turned grim. “You’re running the story without giving him a chance? I always respected you as a journalist.”

“I’ve earned that respect,” she said. “And you know better than anyone else that I’ve been trying to get an interview, even a statement out of him.”

“He’s been busy.”

“The story about his relationship with Alex Gingrich is still running,” Sarah countered. “I can’t meet with him, but I’d be happy to talk to him on the phone.”

A deep sigh rolled into the room like an arctic wind. The temperature dropped and light from the windows dimmed, muted to gray, as if the sun had disappeared. Cold shot through Rukh, turning his essence to ice.

Static crackled on the line, accompanied by the hollow sound of rushing wind. Sarah scrunched up her face and snapped the phone shut. “Shit, seems like I lost him.”

Rukh couldn’t stop staring at the phone, which now lay on the table. Pale green mist poured from it like soft tendrils of smoke, thickened and gathered into a cloud. The charred scent of ash tinged the air as the sickly haze drifted toward Sarah, who sat frozen and gaping.

Awareness of a malevolent presence swept over him. “Sarah, move!”

The shapeless miasma hardened into a shape—a hand—and lunged for Sarah.

Cold fingers wrapped around her throat, choking off her breath.
Oh God, oh God, oh God
. Her mind screamed in silence at the familiar touch reminiscent of nightmares and death settled on her skin. The other world, the one she’d convinced herself didn’t exist, had broken through once more.

Behind her, the computer died with a soft blip. Next came the soft tinkling of the shaking chandelier, followed by the sound of shattering glass. Sarah flinched as slivers fell around her like snowflakes. She’d never sit under a chandelier again…if she survived.

Her body shook in terror as the sulfur fog roiled and compacted into a thick, muscular male shape. A surreal swamp monster. Two eyes, angry and yellow, glowered.

“You had to make this difficult.”

Eric’s soft voice emerging from the thing’s black maw stunned her, stopped her struggles. His fingers loosened and Sarah drew in a huge lungful of fetid air stinking of brimstone. Coughs burned her throat and left her teary-eyed. “Eric?”

“My name is Eyr-hek.” Ripples shivered across the green mass in front of her until Eric’s features bubbled up from beneath. He shot her a sad smile. “I didn’t want it to come to this.”

“What? Why are you doing this?”

“I had it all planned, get Jake into the White House and then I’d continue to be the puppeteer. Life as the power behind the Oval Office would be sweet.” His face darkened into a scowl. “But you had to find out about Jake and Alex.”

“The story’s already gone to press.”

He laughed. “Nah, it’s just gone to your editor, otherwise you wouldn’t still want to talk to Jake.” His eyes narrowed. “I’ll take care of him too.”

Sorrow welled inside. Poor, fat, funny Grayson. She fortified her mental walls. Eyr-hek couldn’t learn about Tim’s investigation. He wouldn’t win.

She saw a chair rise up in the air and crash down on the monster’s head, break into pieces.

Roaring, the creature whipped around and she dangled in his clutch like an old teddy bear that’d lost its stuffing. She yelped.

“Pick on someone your own size,” Rukh said.

A whimper escaped her lips as the man she’d loved and touched all over melted into an inky blackness then reformed into a tall, leanly muscled shadow creature. A silver sheen cascaded over his sculpted body like moonlight. Cold blue eyes glittered with rage.

“Stay out of this, half-breed,” the green djinn rumbled, standing tall. “This is not your concern.”

“Sarah is very much my concern,” Rukh said. “She is my heart mate.” The words left behind a twinge of nerves as they escaped his lips. He didn’t dare glance at Sarah to see how she took the news.

“Too bad.” Eyr-hek sneered, his essence reeking of arrogance. “She is a nuisance that needs to be eliminated.”

“So you hired me to take care of business, and the two purse-thieves?”

“No, that was all Jake and his greedy lover attempting damage control. The fools actually tried to hide the mess from everyone, including me.” A cold smile flitted across Eyr-hek’s face, cruel and hard. “But I’m here now and I’ll take care of her.”

Sarah started gagging as she tried to push away the fingers tightening around her throat. Her legs jerked in a desperate dance. Eyes bulged wide with fear as agonized noises came from her throat.

Rukh snapped into action. He shoved wind at Eyr-hek with all the power he could muster. The djinn bowled ass-over-head across the room, taking Sarah along for the ride. A thin scream tore from her throat.

A bolt of flame shot through the air, missing Rukh as he leapt out of the way, and set a curtain on fire. He’d always been fast, but years of dodging blows had honed the skill.

With an angry growl, Eyr-hek flung Sarah from him.

Rukh’s breath lodged in his throat as her body arced through the air. She hit a wall with a sickening crunch and crumpled to the floor. Oh damn. He raced toward her.

Cold icicles knifed into his left arm and a biting chill invaded his essence. Frost coated his skin in a layer of white. A breath hissed out of Rukh, as he staggered and clutched his arm, which now hung at his side, numb and useless. Damn. Thoughts churned in his head as he fell.
Never take your eyes off the danger. Assassin 101.
He’d let himself get distracted.

Now flames flew at him again. He rolled this way and that to avoid getting hit. The raw energy scorched the rich cherrywood floor. Smoke drifted up.

“You dare take me on? You think you’re a match for a real full-blooded djinn?” Eyr-hek stalked forward.

Rukh scurried backwards on one hand and knees. Survival trumped dignity. He bumped up against the couch. The very same one he’d napped on earlier in the day, the one where he’d hidden his gun. He slumped against its soft velvety body, slipped his good hand between the cushions.

“My family has spent eons marrying and breeding power.” Eyr-hek threw up his hands and silver electricity sizzled from each finger. The rest of the curtains burst into flames. “You’re nothing.”

Rukh whipped out the gun and aimed it. The familiar weight of the 9mm Beretta centered him. Discomfort streaked up his arm when his finger, devoid of his human guise, touched the metal of the trigger. He ignored it and squeezed. Bullets riddled into the other djinn and a cry cracked the air. Eyr-hek blurred and tottered; his eyes showcased pain and shock.

Rukh leaned back against the couch and let the now empty weapon drop to his side. He pulled in deep breaths, exhaled, and waited for other djinn to fall. And waited. Why wasn’t he on the ground, writhing and moaning?

Instead, Eyr-hek grimaced as his body pushed out the bullets one by one. They clattered to the floor. What the hell? He’d never seen that happen so quick before. The guy
was
a bad-ass.

“I’m going to teach you a lesson, mutt.”

Rukh lashed out with his good arm. A whirling tornado went chest to chest with Eyr-hek. Furniture, laptop and other debris caught up in the wind battered the other djinn. He staggered back, threw up an invisible shield.

The storm died and everything thumped to the ground.

Rukh laughed. “You’re so powerful that you hide behind a shield.”

Eyr-hek glared and began lowering the shield. At the first crack, Rukh pushed off the ground and jumped inside. He threw up his own shield, trapping them both in a protective bubble. Now he could unleash full power without worrying about Sarah. He may not be multitalented, but he could wield his one power. With a flick of his wrist he made all the air in the bubble vanish.

The other djinn’s face paled as tremors shook his essence. His mouth opened and shut like a fish left to die on dry land. His hands reached out.

Rukh couldn’t resist a smirk and some smacktalk mind to mind.
Let’s see you work fire and ice without any oxygen.

Eyr-hek’s predator eyes—cold and yellow like polished citrines—flared bright.
But electricity still works in a vacuum
.

Hot, burning energy ripped into Rukh. With a loud thunderclap his shield crumbled and the whip of returning air drove him to his knees in a quivering mess.

Sarah came to with her body aching and the acrid sting of smoke in her nostrils. Dry heat, the kind found in the belly of a hot oven, washed over her skin as her eyes adjusted. Flames raged and roared all around her, devouring curtains and swallowing the room inch by inch. Her reporter’s notebook lay open on the floor, and she watched as the pages crammed with notes turned into gray ash. Tears stung her eyes.

Instinctively, she slapped a hand over her mouth and nose and stayed low to the ground. Oh God, her nightmare about being trapped in a burning place, chased by evil was now a reality. Her breath hitched as her gaze darted around the room.

Eyr-hek towered over Rukh’s limp form on the floor. Was he alive? Her eyes lingered on the obsidian gleam of his body, so alien. His face a smooth mask instead of sharp cheekbones and sexy mouth. A shudder traveled through her. He’d lied to her. He was one of them.

As if her thoughts had touched his mind, the green giant looked over at her, and into her. Smiled.

Oh shit. She was next. She scrambled backwards despite the aches boomeranging through her. She couldn’t hold back the soft noises of pain.

Eyr-hek’s nostrils flared and he rose through the air in a fluid glide to crouch at her side. “I’m going to punish you for messing up my plans.” His eyes held a dangerous glitter as they roamed over her body. “And I’m going to enjoy every second.”

She cringed away from him. Sarah struggled to breathe as her mind bombarded her with bits and pieces of her life: salty-sweet margaritas at sunset, the wild abandon of kissing Rukh, the cinnamon-scented warm safety of Grandmama’s kitchen.

A deep chuckle rumbled from Eyr-hek’s throat. He lifted a hand and an icy cold caress slithered over the side of her face.

Oh God, no. Never
. She couldn’t, couldn’t let him touch her, rape her. Desperation crashed over her. She’d been this desperate only once before, when she was six, and she’d turned into a monster. Desperation surged into rage, battered at her control, left her shaking. Oh God, no, she didn’t want to let go. Yet, a storm gathered in her soul.

Sarah looked into the creature’s golden eyes. Her fear vanished.

“Last chance,” she said, her voice low and breathy as she slowly stood up. “Leave, return to your own world.”

“Leave?” He laughed. “When everything’s going my way? I don’t think so.”

Sarah pulled in a deep breath and poured all her energy into the storm, which she then sicced on Eyr-hek. His proud forehead knitted in a puzzled frown as his essence began to pucker and ripple. Panic flared in his eyes as tension tinged his pallor purplish-pink like bruises.

She paced toward him, whispering ancient words that had long lost their meaning. Soft, dark words with the spicy musk of magic and danger.

Her hands worked the air like soft, pliable dough.

What began as a scream turned into shrieks as Eyr-hek’s body compressed into itself as she doubled over, and his essence stretched thin when she pressed down with the heels of her hands. She wrapped this elastic matter over his mouth, stifling his voice.

The words still flowed from her lips as she kneaded and massaged, pushed and pulled, rolled and patted.

Until Eyr-hek sat on the floor reduced to a large smooth green ball of pulsing, breathing mass.

Vomit rose up in her throat. She turned away and retched spit and water.

“Witch.” A voice as still and quiet as a wary cat. “You’re a witch.”

Her head jerked toward the voice and found Rukh–a beaten and bruised human-looking Rukh—staring at her with horrified eyes. The fire raged around them, creeping closer.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and cleared her throat. “What?”

He pushed himself off the floor into a sitting position. “You are a powerful witch, like Solomon and Rasputin and Marie Laveau.”