Stone Chameleon (Ironhill Jinn #1) (18 page)

“Don’t do this. Please, Isaac.”

“Open your eyes, lass.” His voice had changed, though I couldn’t pinpoint how. It reached inside of me like a promise of home, a gentle caress, a loving kiss to lull and comfort me as I slept in his arms.

I suddenly wanted to be close to him more than anything.

My breathing slowed. The knots in my muscles untied themselves as they did under Rachel’s vocal spell. Even the pain in my face from where it had connected with the wall at the pool vanished. Knowing down deep I shouldn’t listen to him, my lids lifted at his command, while my soul screamed at me to stop.

He held me rapt for agonizing minutes while I drowned in the inky black of his eyes, then stepped away without so much as a press against my mind. “Give me the password to enter your home so I can listen to the message.”

Released from his hold, awareness crept back to me. I shook until whimpers spilled from my lips. So close. All he had to do was push, and the door of my mind would have swung open to him. My darkest nightmare, and I’d almost lived it.

Under any other circumstance, I’d have asked him why he’d stopped, but I wouldn’t question my good fortune. He was within his right to kill me if the council ordered it, but he hadn’t. Some part of him must have believed me, or at least wanted to.

If I survived, I could always move or find another way to seal him out of my home if he abused his welcome—warlock passwords were a onetime deal on a home, and once a vampire had been inside of a place, they were almost impossible to keep out afterward.

“The password is ‘unity for all’ in Latin.
Omnes ad unum
.”

Turbulence swayed me as he blinked out of existence and left me alone again. If I’d had the energy, I’d have cried some more over the tension of our interaction and the shred of hope he’d given me.

With nothing left to do but wait, I lay down and closed my eyes, wishing for a miracle. He wanted to believe me, and when Isaac wanted something, he usually found a way. Even if it didn’t save me, it might keep my reputation intact so Blake’s business wouldn’t suffer. My cause couldn’t die with me. Amun and the rest needed the world’s acceptance, no matter how long it took to achieve. Even if I wasn’t there to watch it happen.

H
ours later, the long silence broke with the eruption of enraged voices. “Our business arrangement gives you no right to meddle in hive affairs.” Isaac stood nose-to-nose with Amun.

“This is wrong and you know it.” Amun shoved a finger toward the vampire. “Have you lost every shred of your humanity that you can’t see it?”

“Amun?” I pressed my face to the bars. “What are you doing here?”

“Trying to talk reason into madness,” he said, turning to me. His features fell from taut to slack. “Is that really you?”

I glanced down at the filth of me. “Pretty sight, isn’t it?” My tone still sounded nasally because of the swelling in my nose.

“This is supposed to be your friend, who has stuck her neck out for you on countless occasions by your own admission.” Amun gestured toward me. “And you keep her in this squalor? Even a blind man could tell she’s hurt. I know you’re capable of healing, yet you left her like this? You’re despicable.”

When Isaac said nothing, only continued to stare down his straight nose at him, Amun came toward me.

“No closer,” Isaac said.

Amun halted and looked me over. “Are you hurt as badly as I think you are?”

“I think my nose might be broken, and I have a headache, but nothing else a shower and a meal won’t cure.”

Fingers snarled into his curls, he shut his eyes, a slight tremor coursing down his body.

I looked past him to Isaac. “So you heard the message?”

Mouth set in a grim line, he shook his head. “I found no answering machine, only a broken phone cable. And you left your tap running. Your pig was quite perturbed at being stranded on your bed.”

Oh, Benny, the poor wee thing. I fought the urge to scream my frustration. “You better not have hurt him, and I didn’t leave my tap on, Isaac. Wait, how long have I been here? Wouldn’t Rhoda have already noticed the water?”

“It’s Monday night,” Amun said. “She doesn’t open on Mondays.”

It had only been a day? “And the police reports on the accidents?”

“Broken water main.” Isaac crossed his large arms, the pose mounding his impressive biceps. “That’s the official report, and they’re not willing to investigate further. When I looked for myself, I found nothing that would suggest foul play. Dominic’s apartment was spotless, too.”

Huffing, I paced my enclosure, hugging myself. “She’s thought of everything, like she’s inside my head, having my thoughts before I do. Every step is calculated and carefully laid out, as if she’s been planning it for months, thinking of every angle, every means I could use to prove my innocence so she can erase it along with me.” I stopped and settled my pleading stare on him. “What would you have me do from here, Isaac? Give me a chance to sort this out.”

“You canna leave this place.” “
Ever
” hung in the silence, unsaid.

“Then you may as well kill me now.” It came blurting out before I considered he might be unable to resist the offer.

He zapped into my cage. “Give me something to show the council, or you condemn yourself. Choose!”

“Do you believe me?” I studied his unreadable mask, hoping that somewhere deep inside he held onto a shred of goodness, that our friendship meant something to him, but as usual I found only blackness.

“Let me post bail,” Amun said, drawing nearer. “Whatever you want. My cars. My home. Anything.”

Isaac scoffed, his focus never wavering from me. “You mistake this for the pointless institution that is the human justice system. We doona do bail here.”

“Name your price.” Amun’s fingers curled around the bars.

“Stop this.” I strained my eyes to the left. “You can’t help me, Amun. This isn’t your fight.”

“You’re wrong.” His attention shifted to the vampire. “My life, then. If I don’t return her to you when you command, my life is yours.”

“No!” I screeched as Isaac tilted his head toward the other man. “Stop this, Amun. You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“Evoke a blood trace on me if you must, but release her, and we’ll find whatever evidence you need for your council.” The deadly resolve emanating from Amun twisted my insides. It said he wouldn’t be swayed, but I had to try.

I drew as close to him as the vampire would allow. “Don’t do this. I’ll figure it out as I always do.” When he wouldn’t look at me, I shouted, “I’m not a helpless little girl in need of a savior, Mr. Bassili! Leave here at once before I throw you out myself.”

Isaac’s gaze slid sideways to me, then found Amun again. “That’s the second time I’ve seen her stamp her foot when talking about you.”

Judging by Amun’s raised eyebrows, he didn’t know what to make of the vampire any more than I did. On anyone else, Isaac’s reaction might have been interpreted as jealousy.

“Tell him no this instant.” I leaned toward the hive lord. “Tell him to leave, or I swear to you I’ll …” What? Stone him to death? I had no weapons to use against him other than my wit and my voice.

Without sparing me a glance, he remained intent on the other jinn. “I’ll blood trace you both, at which time you’ll have exactly three days—the time already set for the trial your human laws demand—to untie the noose from her neck. You will not let her out of your sight for a moment. If she gets away from you, even for reasons she may deem noble, you’ll die before the dawn.”

A crackle broke the air, and he appeared outside the cell beyond my reach. “Agreed?”

“No!” I stamped my foot harder, the shock resonating up my leg from the jolt. A trickle of power escaped me, sparkled in the stone at my feet, amplified by my rising emotions. I coaxed it back within me and hoped Isaac hadn’t noticed.

He went still for a moment, shot me a glance, but went back to staring at Amun.

I resumed breathing. “I don’t agree.”

“You’re a ward of the hive, and I can do with you as I please,” Isaac said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Your permission is not required.”

I bit back a string of curses. “Then I forbid you to do this, Amun. Blood traces are irreversible. He’ll own you for the rest of your life whether we win or lose. Why would you do this? You barely know me, and I’ve jilted you for years.” I jabbed my finger toward the only visible door in the dungeon. “Walk away. I’ve already failed Dominic. I won’t risk you, too.”

“I’m not asking your permission,” Amun said, offering a tiny smile, then turned to Isaac, bending in a formal bow. “Agreed.”

“You’re a stupid bastard!” I plunked my behind on the bench and crossed my arms. “Both of you. Stupid, stubborn bastards, the whole lot.”

“Don’t be so harsh, Miss Hudson.” Isaac’s subtle smile held obvious satisfaction. “He’s given you a chance to live. Doona waste your energy on being cranky.”

I’d show him cranky. “Go to hell.”

“Too late.”

“And I’m not cranky, though I’m apparently the only one here who has half a brain. Forgive me for getting upset over a man forfeiting his life for what’s most likely a lost cause, and to you, no less.”

A rogue thought flitted to the forefront. Had Isaac had brought Amun to the hive knowing what he’d offer? I discounted the idea when I found no good reason as to why he might want Amun under his control.

“Don’t give up on me, Lou.” Amun focused on Isaac and lowered to his knees. “Do it so I can take her home.”

“I need the medallion first.” A shift and a crackle, and a small metal disk appeared in Isaac’s hand. If I’d blinked, I’d have missed the fact he’d left and returned. Spikes protruded from one side of the item he held.

Speaking a foreign tongue, the vampire placed the medallion spikes-first over his own heart. His power surged into the room like an unseen hand readying to crush me into the floor, hot, needling, wrapping me in a suffocating blanket. I gasped and fell to my knees, swimming with dizziness. Isaac groaned and tilted his head back.

Through a mess of my hair that had fallen forward, I watched the spines sink into his flesh, as if drawn in of their own accord. A symbol resembling a thin, winged dragon wrapped around a Celtic knot on the front of the disk glowed, changing from a bronze color to crimson as it filled with blood.

Isaac’s chanting continued as he peeled the item from his skin, placed his hand on the top of Amun’s head and pushed down, exposing his nape. After setting the dragon medallion at the top of the jinn’s spine, he slammed his palm down, sinking the tiny daggers into his flesh.

Amun’s back arched, and he cried out in pain.

“Stop,” I tried to say, but nothing came out. The weight of the magic pressed heavily upon my chest. I toppled forward, but managed to stay on my hands and knees.

“You are mine to call, and you must answer,” Isaac said in the dreamy voice he’d used on me earlier.

Amun raised his head, his dark eyes glazed. “I am yours to call, and I will answer.” Purple mist curled around the jinn, spiraling outward from the medallion on his nape before cinching tight to his body. A moment later, the mist disappeared into his skin.

“It’s done.” A flick of Isaac’s fingers dislodged the metal from Amun’s back.

The ripples of magic waned. From the metal, the red glow had disappeared. Amun’s heavy breathing filled the silence as he fell on his face into the dirt. The Scotsman appeared beside me, crouched down, his kilt spread out along the floor. “Your turn. Accept my blood willingly into yours, or it will hurt more.”

“Splendid,” I hissed through clenched teeth. Arguing would be pointless, so I saved my breath. Through the buzzing in my head, I thought I heard him chuckle before another blaze of his energy saturated the room, and his chanting commenced. It sounded different than what he said to Amun, filled with some rich emotion that encompassed me like warm honey.

My forehead seemed heavy, resisting my attempts to raise it above the floor between my hands.

Isaac roared, filling the air with the spark of his old magic that popped against my skin. He sat on his behind and tugged my torso across his lap face down. The scratchy wool of his tartan against my cheeks gave me an odd sense of comfort. He stroked fingers through my hair, clearing it away from the back of my neck in one of those gentle gestures that didn’t fit his demeanor.

“Be still.”

His command flipped a switch inside me. I went limp, floating in false bliss. He stroked my nape as if committing every bump and tiny hair to memory. Tingles danced along my spine and over my scalp, sinking into places that had never experienced the pleasure of touch.

Cold shocked me when he set the medallion between my shoulder blades, drawing a hiss from me. As he’d done with Amun, his fist came down hard upon it. Spines dug in deep, felt as if they’d plugged a live wire into my spine and would burn right through.

A scream came unbidden, rattling through my whole body before it stopped and left me gasping. Burning lava crept down my back. I wondered if I’d gone up in flames.

Isaac set me on my knees and tipped my face toward his. “You are
mine
to call, and you must answer.” He added an extra emphasis to “mine”, and some part of me, despite the overwhelming disgust from the rest of me, liked it.

A response tumbled from my lips. “I am
yours
to call, and I will answer, always and for eternity.” Another voice, though silent, echoed within my ears.
“And you are mine.”

Isaac pulled me upright, my rear in his lap, and cradled me in his arms. One of his warm hands swept up my back while the other cupped my face. He pulled the medallion from me, but the small sting got lost in the euphoria of his embrace and the profound joy spilling out of his gaze, which only lasted a moment before it disappeared.

He lowered me to the floor while I attempted to relearn how to breathe. “Take a few moments to recover.” Exhaustion dragged on his words. Apparently the process had been as hard on him as it had been on me. “Three days, Miss Hudson. I canna delay a moment longer than that. Find this woman, if she exists, or you’ll die in her place.”

His tone held no threat, only simple fact. If I didn’t know better, I’d have said the hive lord hoped I’d succeed. I knew him too well to believe it even though I wanted to. If he’d forgo exacting justice for his people while defying the council’s orders, there had to be some nefarious motive, which would lead me into a worse trap than the one I found myself in.