Warrior from the Shadowland (22 page)

The
human cleared his throat, tearing his eyes from Nia’s hair.  “Right, well, the
thing is, Miss Waterhouse…  I mean,” He glanced at Cross.  “Are you her
husband?”

“Yes.” 
Cross intoned.

“No.” 
Nia, said at exactly the same time.

The
cop’s eyebrows soared at the different voting outcomes.

“What
the hell do you mean ‘
no
’?!”  Cross glowered down at Nia, furious that
she’d try to deny his claim in front of the human.  “What is a Match if not
their equivalent of husband?!  Huh?”

“You
won’t Phaze with me.”  She reminded him, pointedly.  “Without Phazing, we can’t
consummate anything.  That means we aren’t
really
married in their
culture.  Correct, officer?”

“Absolutely. 
If you’re talking about…Uh…  Well, I mean, there’s annulments and everything
for that.”  The cop nodded, seemingly fascinated with this conversational
tangent.  “And you can call me Sullivan.”

Cross
all but bared his teeth at the man.  He grabbed Nia by the arm and tugged her
away from Sullivan’s desk.  “Nia.”  He lowered his voice and switched to
Elemental.  “We can’t Phaze, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t married.  We’re
more
than married.  Humans don’t even come
close
to Phazing.  Why are you
saying this?”

“I’m
trying to get your attention!  You won’t even consider that I could be right
about Matches
always
being capable of supporting each other’s energy. 
Instead…”

The
door to the police station opened again and Uriel strolled in, interrupting
Nia.  Standing next to him was the blonde cop from the hospital and it would’ve
taken the stupidest Phase in the universe to miss the fact that he’d Phazed
with her.

The
woman beamed like she’d single handedly discovered the cure for the Fall and
gazed up at Uriel like he was it.  There was a flowing energy around them, as
their powers sustained each other and grew into something new.  It was always
like that with Matches who Phazed.  Their separate energies created a bigger,
more stable whole.  To this day, Cross had no idea how his parents had hidden
their connection from Vice.  It should have been obvious to
everyone
, in
fact.  It just went to show what a weak connection they’d had.  For the first
time, he almost felt sorry for them.  They’d never found what he had with Nia.

Even
if he was screwing it up.

Cross
glanced down at Nia, taking in her surprise and longing as she stared at Uriel
and the woman.  He was disappointing his Match.  Depriving her of something
that every Phase should experience.  Cross wanted Nia more than he’d thought it
possible to want anything.  All the times he’d been hungry and thirsty and
cold, meant nothing compared to his desire for her.  But he couldn’t be as
selfish as his mother had been.  Couldn’t think only of himself instead of his
Match.  The Shadows could
hurt
Nia, no matter how strong she was and how
much she wanted to fight.

Unfortunately,
by denying her the full Phazing, Cross was hurting her, anyway.

Shit.

“Mel,
what the hell are you doing holding hands with your prisoner?”  Sullivan
demanded, and it occurred to Cross that something strange was going on here. 
He’d been thinking of Nia and he’d missed the very obvious “wait a minute” part
of Uriel’s Phazing.

His
woman was human.

At
least she
seemed
human.  It was impossible.  Phases didn’t Match with
humans.

“Is
she human?”  Cross demanded before he thought better of it.

“Mostly.” 
Uriel squeezed his Match’s hand and grinned.  “She is Melanie.”  He apparently
thought that said it all.  “Melanie, this is Nia and Cross.  Don’t get too
close to Cross.  He’s a little bit wrong.”

“He
is
not!
”  Nia yelped with a gratifying amount of irritation.

“Hey,
guys.”  Melanie held up her free palm in an absent wave as she focused on her
cousin.  “Sully, now I can explain this.”  She nodded, earnestly.  “Uriel isn’t
really a drug addict or a crook.  He’s a solider.”

Sullivan
didn’t look impressed with the distinction.  His eyes flicked to the sword that
Uriel had strapped to his back.  “A solider who was -what?  Protecting the
hospital from dragons?  Damn it, Mel, you gave him back that blade?  Who
is
this
World of Warcraft
guy?   Do you even know?”

“I
am her Match.”  Uriel announced.  “And custom dictates that you and I speak,
Sullivan.  As a fellow warrior, I know that you are concerned about your
cousin.  And, perhaps, you are feeling like I will take her away from you,
somehow.  But, Melanie and I have Phazed now…”

“Oh,
God!
”  Sullivan groaned.  He looked over at Nia.  “Tell me I was wrong
about what that Phazing thing meant.  Please?”

She
winced and shrugged helplessly.

Melanie
pinched the bridge of her nose.  “Uriel, honey, ix-nay on the azingphay, okay? 
At least, around my cousin.”

Uriel
didn’t let the interruptions deter him from his mentally rehearsed speech. 
“…And I would like to formally welcome you to
my
family, Sullivan,
grandson of Parson.”  He opened his arms in a sort of open air, long distance
hug.  “Brother.”

Melanie
somehow managed to laugh and cringe at the same time as she took in her
cousin’s horrified expression.  “Sullivan, if you’ll just listen…”

“
No
. 
No, I’ve heard enough gory details.  I can’t believe you have such terrible
judgment.  Wasn’t Brad, bad enough?  Do you see the shirt that this basehead is
wearing?”  Sullivan gestured towards the ‘Sexy Grandma’ lettering plastered
across Uriel’s chest.  “Has he hypnotized you?”

“No,
I just really, really…” Melaine shrugged, helplessly.  “Love him.”

“Melanie,
I swear to God…”  The phone on Sullivan’s desk rang and he expelled a
frustrated breath.  “Don’t move.”  He warned her as he picked it up.  “What?”  He
barked into the receiver.

There
was a pause as he listened to the person on the other end for a beat.  “Wait,
what?”  He looked stunned.  “Beheaded?  Who the hell would
behead
someone in this town?”

Uriel
looked over at Cross, meaningfully.

“Shut-up.”
 Nia hissed.  “I mean it, Uriel.”

“Yeah.” 
Sullivan ran a hand through his hair.  “Yeah, I’m on my way.  Don’t touch
anything.”

“Sully?” 
Melanie frowned as her cousin hung up the phone.  “What’s going on?”

“Someone
beheaded a lab tech over at the hospital.  In the same serology lab where we
arrested your boyfriend there.”  Sullivan grabbed his jacket and headed for the
door.  “I hafta go over there.  Can I trust you to watch the prisoners, Mel?  I
mean it.  Don’t elope or something while I’m gone.  This is important.  We
haven’t had a murder in Mayport Beach since the ‘70s.”

Cross’
jaw firmed.  That could only be the work of a Phase.  Probably the Air House
coming to see what happened to their six dead comrades.

Shit.

“Sullivan.” 
Nia called as the cop went striding off without bothering to wait for Melanie’s
response.

He
turned back to glance at Nia.  “Yeah?  What?”

“If
you see anyone with a yellow streak in their hair,” she pointed to her
highlight,  “don’t trust them.  They’re probably dangerous.”  She must’ve been
thinking the same thing as Cross.  When decapitated bodies started popping up,
it was a good bet that some Elementals had hit town.

Sullivan
eyed her seriously for along moment.  “We’re gonna talk.”  He warned and went
stomping out.

Cross
glowered down at her.  “I don’t think you should talk to him.  He’ll be too
interested whatever you have to say.  Why do you have to be so pretty?”

She
gave him a haughty sniff.  “We’re still not done discussing our ‘azingphay,’ so
don’t bother trying to sweet-talk me, Cross, of the Shadow House.”  Still, she
stood on tiptoe to kiss the side of his chin as she headed over to Uriel.  She
had a grip on his hand to prevent the headaches, so Cross allowed himself to be
pulled along in her wake.  “Alright, what topic should we tackle first,
Uriel?”  She inquired.  “You somehow having a human Match, the fact that Gion
was here a little while ago, or the beheading at the hospital?  They all have
the potential to be super fun, so I’ll let you choose.”

“Maybe
Gion was the one who beheaded the lab tech.”  Cross suggested.  There weren’t a
lot of murder sprees, natural disasters, and other assorted badness that he
couldn’t picture Gion, of the Air House inflicting on the world.  After all,
the guy wasn’t called Darth Vader by most of the Elemental wiseasses
just
because
of the black cape.

“Why
would Gion bother, though?  Why would anyone?”  Nia sighed.  “My whole
rebellion is falling apart.  I never expected any humans to be hurt.  And Tharsis
will be so upset.  He thinks humans are just adorable –He spent his whole
career studying them!-- and now one’s been chopped up because of us.”

“Not
because of you.  Because of the
Air House
.”  Cross corrected, firmly. 
“Or it could’ve been the Reprisal.  It’s not just you drawing them to town,
either.  Not if you’re right about the Quintessence hanging around this place. 
I told you that thing will bring all the crazies out from under their rocks. 
Everyone’s going to be looking for it.”

“Melanie
will help us with that part.”  Uriel had apparently picked the topic that
interested him and -surprise, surprise- it was his little blonde Match.  “She
has a computer with blood data on it.”

“Well,
it’s not really mine.  It’s the taxpayers, but yeah.  I have access to DNA
records.”  Melanie headed over to her desk, fishing her keys out of her pocket
as she went.  “Here, cowboy.”  She tossed them to Uriel.  “Go let your friends
outta their cell.”

He
gave her an adoring smile and headed off to free Ty and Tharsis.

“Why
can’t your brother just use Water pressure to bend the bars or something?” 
Cross asked Nia.  “I was expecting them to be gone by the time we got here.”

“Our
cells are Plexiglas.”  Melanie sat behind her desk and booted up her computer.  “That
was grandpa’s idea, back when my grandmother was the dispatcher here.  Now I
get why he thought of it.  You guys are like all kryptonite-y around plastics,
right?  At least, that’s what Uriel said about the handcuffs when we were in
the backseat…”  She trailed off and focused intently on her Jensen Ackles
wallpaper.

Cross
and Nia exchanged a glance.  “Handcuffs?”  He mouthed.

Nia
leaned closer to him.  “If we Phazed, I’d let you try that.”  She offered,
persuasively.  She let her body slide past his as she walked towards Melanie’s
desk.  Her free hand brushed across the front of his pants, just long enough to
nearly kill him.

Until
that moment, Cross hadn’t known it was possible to feel your pupils dilating.
Arousal roared through him.  He reached over to grip a wooden chair back as
tightly as he could, expending pressure so he wouldn’t crush Nia’s fingers. 
Her other palm was still caught in his.  Cross felt his energy sizzle out into
the room and fought to control the urge to Phaze.

Right
now.

The
chair splintered under Cross’ grip and Melanie’s head snapped up.

“Oh,
great.  You’re paying for that.  You guys are –like-- stronger than humans or
whatever.  You should be more careful of our stuff.  And our heads.  I’m already
going to have to pin this murder on some made-up human suspect and now you’re
breaking the furniture, too?  Not cool.”

“Sorry. 
Cross is just tense because he refuses to Phaze with me.”  Nia sat down on the
edge of the desk, right next to a mostly dead fern.  She raised a “what can you
do?” sort of shoulder.  “I keep telling him…”

Melanie
cut her off, gaping over at Cross.  “Are you crazy?”

“Yes.” 
He told her, seriously, still breathing hard.

Nia
rolled her eyes.

Melanie
waved that aside.  “You have to trust me on this, big guy.  Alright?  I know
what I’m talking about here.  Phazing is
for sure
something you wanna
try.  I completely support it for our new national sport, in fact.  You should
sleep with that girl.”  She pointed at Nia.  “Why would you refuse her, when
she’s so cute?”

“Because,
I’m crazy.”  Cross kicked aside the assorted chair debit and scowled at
Melanie.  “Didn’t you listen to Uriel?  I’m
wrong
.  I could hurt her.” 
Even he could hear that that sounded pretty maudlin.

Melanie
glanced over at Nia.  “He’s sort of got a whole dramatic, self-denial, emo
thing happening, doesn’t he?  Are you guys not over emo, yet?”

“He’ll
come around.”  Nia said, confidently.  “Do you really think you’ll be able to
say ‘no’ to me forever, Cross?  I
am
pretty cute.”  She grinned,
impishly.

He
ignored that because he had the real bad feeling that she was right.

Shit.

“Nia.” 
The door leading to the holding cell area swung open and Ty came rushing
forward.  “There you are.  I’ve been so worried.”  She threw her arms around
her cousin and hugged tight.  “Are you alright?”