Torn (31 page)

"I take it you'd
be up for a brief field trip then?"

She perked up just
like Rachel at the mention of shopping.

"A field trip
sounds great. Except I have to be back at least three hours before
the dance, or Rachel and Jasmin will eat me. At least that's what
they said, and I tend to believe them."

She was so casual
about it all that I couldn't help myself. This time I did reach out
and run a finger along the side of her face.

"Only you could
manage to make a joke out of having fallen in with monsters."

She shrugged easily,
"What else is a girl to do?"

I returned the shrug
as I headed towards the bathroom.

"Be that as it
may, I think you don't give yourself enough credit for just how
amazing you are."

**

I hadn't realized Adri
had never been on my motorcycle with me. She'd spent the entire time
I was in the shower chomping at the bit ready to go, and then almost
backed out when I took her out to the bike. She tried so hard to be
brave that I didn't have the heart to tell her that it was obvious
she was terrified of the low-slung sports bike.

I started to give her
a way out, but she pulled the helmet out of my hand and crammed it
onto her head with hands that had only the barest trace of a tremble.
I took the first part of the drive well under the speed limit, and
then as I felt her start to relax and lean into the turns with me,
cranked it up to triple digits.

Once we were at
something closer to my normal speed the rest of the trip passed
quickly, and all too soon we'd arrived at the abandoned shed I used
to hide the bike. I felt a brief surge of disappointment as her
hands loosened around my waist and she leaned back. It had been a
rare moment of guilt-free contact. There'd been plenty of clothes
between our skin and consequently no risk of increasing the Ja'tell
bond.

I killed the power to
the bike and then listened for several seconds for any sound of
pursuit.

"Are we here?"

"Disappointed?"

She blushed, but stuck
her tongue out. I suppressed a grin and shook my head.

"No, we're not
quite there yet, but before we continue on, I need your promise not
to discuss this with anyone. Not even the rest of the pack."

As always, her scent
told the story her face was so good at hiding. She was a little
offended that I felt like I needed to remind her, and, unless I was
very mistaken, starting to get the least bit dehydrated. I fished
around the magnetically attached tank bag and pulled out a bottle of
water for her.

"I'm sorry,
Adriana. I know I can depend on you, this is just important enough
that I needed to make sure you understood what's riding on your
discretion."

She took a long pull
from the bottle and nodded.

"I won't say
anything. What exactly are we going to see?"

"Not a what, but
a who."

I carefully picked her
up and shifted her around so she was riding piggyback. It put her
arms in contact with my neck, but the touch couldn't be avoided. It
would take more than half an hour for us to make the journey at
merely human speeds.

A couple of minutes
later I pulled up in front of Mallory's cabin and felt the first pang
of remorse at bringing Adri. I knew she wouldn't betray my trust,
but the secret I was including her in wasn't just mine.

Donovan had left a
sealed envelope on his desk with my name on it, but for all of his
preternatural abilities of anticipation he couldn't have expected
that I'd endanger Mallory like this.

I loosened my grip on
Adri and helped her slide down to the ground. I steadied her, and
then watched as she looked around, finally noticing the cabin, set
well back into the mouth of the cave so as to blend into the
hillside.

Her expression of pure
delight at the discovery helped banish some of my fears and I walked
over and knocked on Mallory's door. Mallory's characteristic shuffle
sounded from inside and then she appeared wearing a simple blue dress
Donovan had ordered for her last year.

She gave me a hug, and
then stepped back so she could look up at me without craning her neck
and pulling on the scar tissue that laced the front of her throat.

My worries that she'd
be angry with me for bringing Adri evaporated as she flashed a
dazzling smile and carefully moved back out of the way so we could
enter.

"Mallory, I'd
like to introduce you to Adriana Paige. Adriana, Mallory."

Adri smiled hesitantly
as she offered Mallory her hand.

"I'm very happy
to finally get to meet you, young lady. Alec is better company than
most, but it's nice to have a new face around here."

I helped both ladies
into two of the worn chairs in Mallory's living room, and then nodded
at Mallory's command.

"You go ahead
and do your chores. Us girls will just get to know each other, and
then once you're done, you can bring me up to speed on the latest
developments."

Donovan had arranged a
food drop a few days before, so I went around behind the cabin and
picked up the heavy bar and two baskets that would allow me to carry
more than would easily fit in my arms.

The food cache was
replenished on a semi-regular basis by a driver from out of town. He
had strict orders to come from the opposite direction. It was a
brutal four hour drive over some fairly rough terrain, but he was
paid very well, and had a substantial amount of money set aside in
escrow. As long as no rumors were ever circulated about his
activities he continued to draw a substantial bonus each year. If he
ever said anything about his trips it would eventually make it back
to Donovan and his golden goose would dry up overnight.

So far the arrangement
had served to keep Mallory's existence a secret shared by a grand
total of three people. Four, now that Adri knew.

I set out at a brisk
pace, not a run, not with nearly one hundred pounds of metal balanced
across my shoulders, but something that would allow me to cover
ground fairly quickly. I found the food in short order. We'd set a
heavy-duty steel box, almost a mini-shipping container back inside
one of the caves where it would be safe from observation.

The task was one I'd
done hundreds of times, and I loaded up the baskets with practiced
efficiency. I picked them up to check the balance and found that
they weren't as heavy as I'd expected. I added another forty pounds
to each basket and then lifted the burden and headed back toward
Mallory's

I heard Mallory's
voice as I took the first load around to the back of her cabin and
unloaded it in the steel vault we'd installed last year. It wasn't
especially convenient for her, but it more than doubled her pantry
space; and if the worst happened, I wanted her to be provided for as
long as possible.

Donovan had set aside
enough money to ensure that the deliveries continued well beyond
Mallory's likely death, but there was no reason to force her to take
the journey out to the cache any sooner than she had to. The wounds
Agony had inflicted left her unable to lift heavy objects, so she'd
be reduced to moving the food stores one or two cans at a time.

From my position at
the back of the cabin I could make out her words.

"Nonsense. If I
am kind, it's no doubt because of those very experiences that I would
have been the most desperate to avoid. I think most of the best
people are that way exactly because of the things they've endured.
Individuals like Dominic, Rachel, and Jasmin don't just happen.
They're the result of a native goodness being tempered and refined by
terrible experiences."

The baskets once again
empty, I headed back outside for a second trip. I'd made more of a
dent in the stores than I'd realized. I was going to be able to
carry the rest of the delivery in one load. It was heavy enough that
the baskets creaked only slightly louder than my shoulders, but it
all fit.

Adri looked so amazed
when I carefully maneuvered the load through the door into Mallory's
cabin that I decided almost twisting my ankle on the way back had been
worth it. I gently set the baskets down and went to unload them as
Mallory shook her head.

"That was almost
as quick as normal."

I nodded absently as I
opened the pantry door and started putting cans away.

"I've been
lifting weights for a while, but present circumstances dictated a
more aggressive program."

Mallory clucked at me
and waved me over to the couch.

"You'll put them
in the wrong spots. Just leave that, and I'll put it away later.
Don't go all mulish on me, I may be old and feeble, but I'm still
able to move a can of food. Come over here and let me look at you."

She was right, we
didn't have much time. There was a limit to how long of an absence I
could explain away the day of the fight. I suddenly felt as though I
was weighed down with the entire food shipment at one time.

I slowly crossed the
distance between us as I pulled Donovan's letter from my pocket.
More than the food, or even the letter, this was the reason we'd come
out here. There was little if any counsel she could give me at such
a late date. All that remained was to lay the last bit of hope to
rest; to verify that my latent power hadn't manifested.

Mallory gently
accepted Donovan's letter and then waited as I knelt before her. She
placed a hand on each side of my head and then called for her beast.

Mallory's power seemed
to arc back and forth like an electrical discharge, and then she
released me and sat back. I slowly looked up at her, but wasn't
truly surprised when she shook her head at me.

I suppressed the
disappointment that would just make her feel like she'd failed me. I
must not have succeeded, or possibly she just knew me well enough to
know exactly what must be going through my mind. She reached out as
if to comfort me, but I gently returned her hands to her lap.

"Nothing's
changed. We'll just proceed as before. Rest now, and should the
worse come to pass I'll send Donovan to you."

It was unlikely, and
we both knew it. Donovan would be loath to leave my mother, even for
the woman he'd risked death for so many years before, but I'd give
the order and leave it up to him to choose.

For the first time I
felt a glimmer of understanding at what he must go through. It was a
terrible thing to be forced to choose between your duty and the thing
you wanted most in the world.

Rachel hustled Adri
off as soon as we returned. Based on the stern look she shot me one
would have been justified in thinking that I'd shown up fifteen
minutes before we were supposed to leave rather than with nearly
three hours to spare.

I watched the pair of
suddenly giggling girls disappear around the corner and then followed
the hall to my bedroom. Rachel had already laid my tux out on the
bed. I'd reviewed the expenditures sheet Donovan had brought by for
approval at the end of the credit card cycle, so I knew it had cost
more than some small cars, but Rachel had been adamant that nothing
less would do.

At first look it
seemed like a fairly straight-forward standard black tux, but the
material was something I'd never seen before. Almost shiny, but not
really, it managed to create a sense of depth that reminded me of
what I should be doing rather than standing around staring at my
outfit.

I pulled a pair of
old, paint-stained jeans on and headed into my studio with a frantic
haste that only grew as the minutes passed. Everyone had opted for
privacy after the dance, dealing with their fears or anxiety in
various ways, but I'd decided it was the last chance I was going to
get to do the right thing and convince Adri to leave town.

Every item needed to
be perfect to guarantee she'd understand just what she'd be giving up
if she didn't flee to safety. Donovan had already taken care of most
of the details. The lights were already set up in the grotto, and
I'd slipped out before the sun came up and made a few last minute
adjustments to the illumination. The flowers had already been moved
out of the green house and arranged to perfection, which left only
one last piece lacking.

I pulled out my
paints, quickly mixed them to the shades I needed, and set about
filling in more of the details. The grotto had been easy, I'd been
there thousands of times under nearly every conceivable condition,
and my memory allowed me to recreate it in near perfect exactness.

As always Adri was the
hardest piece to translate into mere two-dimensions. I could close
my eyes and see her in glowing perfection, hands outstretched towards
me in concern, but her beauty didn't translate exactly to such an
imperfect medium.

The silvery light of
the moon blended with the unearthly glow of her skin, turning her
into a creature constructed of shadows and light, but that wasn't the
difficult part.

The sound of the girls
laughing while they did each other's hair and makeup had been a
distraction, but one I'd been unwilling to give up. Someone turned
on their white noise generator and the chance of hearing Adri talked
disappeared, taking with it the last reason to allow myself
distractions.

I flipped on my own
privacy box, and let the white noise lull me into a trance-like state
where I at least had a small chance of recapturing her expression.
Acceptance, compassion and a near saint-like desire to mend wounds
were all there along with a host of others that even after a month's
time I couldn't interpret.

I threw myself into
the work, and the minutes spun away into hours. Donovan had to knock
on the studio door to finally break me from the mania of my work.