WarriorsApprentice (14 page)

Huon and Ty were unique. She knew now without a doubt that
with them she was physically safe. But emotionally she stood in grave danger.
She could not imagine ever having enough of them, of being capable of walking
away when she left her job and Venice.

“Are you all right?” Huon asked.

“I’m fine now,” Judie reassured him. “I was upset at first
of course.”

“Human emotion,” Ty murmured. ”Of course you were upset.”

“But you’re okay now,” Huon said, shooting Ty another of
those unreadable glances. “And here we are. A glass of wine and you’ll forget
all about the bad stuff.”

Ty stuck a key in the lock of the outer door and led her up
a wide staircase to a first-floor apartment, high enough to be safe from flood
damage.

Huon punched in a series of numbers on the keypad at the
apartment doorway and pushed open the door when the light turned green.

“Oh,” Judie sighed. “It’s beautiful.”

The floor was polished white marble, the walls painted the
same creamy white, with large windows overlooking the canal. Soft, buttery
lounges flanked an empty fireplace and through an open archway she could see a
small galley kitchen.

Ty gestured with his arm. “The bedrooms and bathrooms are
through there if you’d like to freshen up. I’ll pour us some wine.”

Judie knew her eyes were wide and awestruck. “This place
must have cost you a fortune. You must have a very generous boss if he pays for
this.”

Ty stopped on his way into the kitchen and grinned. “We only
moved in today. We came into some money unexpectedly.”

* * * * *

Huon smothered a laugh. That was one way of describing what
had happened when they had packed up the dead Gatekeeper in their hotel room,
ready to take him to be dumped. Tybor had insisted they remove anything that
might identify him if by some chance the tide brought the body back to the
city. Finding a wallet with the man’s name, Abraham Lewis, and a few hundred euro
hadn’t been exciting, but a money pouch strapped onto his back, packed full of
notes, had been a much more interesting find.

They could have thrown the money overboard with the body,
but what would have been the point of that? Far more practical to leave a small
wad of it behind in the room to cover their bill and the damage and hopefully
placate the hotel’s owner so he wouldn’t call the police, and take the rest.
And apart from his inexplicable decision to follow Huon to the surface, Tybor
was nothing if not practical.

Huon looked up and smiled as Tybor came back into the room
carrying a tray with wine winking jewel-like in heavy glass goblets.

He handed one to Judie and raised his glass in a silent
toast. Judie smiled and drank. Huon swallowed some of the wine but noticed that
although Tybor’s glass tilted again and again, the wine did no more than wet
his lips.

The small shake of Tybor’s head was almost unnoticeable, but
Huon put his glass down. Tybor refilled Judie’s glass.

At a nod from Tybor, Huon sat down next to Judie and stroked
his hand over her shoulder and down her arm. He covered her hand with his and
raised the glass to her lips. She giggled but sipped obediently, again and
again.

After a few minutes Tybor reached over and plucked the glass
away. “We’ll have some more soon. Right now, though…”

He kissed his way down her neck, pushing the wide, peasant-style
neck of her shirt away with his tongue. Huon turned sideways and pulled Judie
around so her back rested against his chest. He nibbled at the side of her neck
and the perfumed muskiness of her almost made him lose his head, but Tybor
slanted a glance his way and the hard, calculating look in his eyes sobered
Huon instantly. Tybor’s loss of control the other night had been an aberration.
Huon knew he would not repeat it. This was not a primitive drive to completion,
two hundred years of abstinence screaming to be rectified. As clearly as if he
had said it out loud, in that one look Tybor told him there was a purpose to
this seduction.

Huon pushed aside Judie’s top and bra to stroke over her
nipples, Tybor pulled down her panties. Then he grasped both ankles and moved
them apart, opening her. He bent forward, tongue delving between her folds, and
Huon felt Judie surge backward against him at the power of the thrusts of
Tybor’s tongue.

Under his hands Huon felt the thundering of her heart, its
racing beat matching his own. The sight of Tybor’s head enclosed by the golden
creaminess of Judie’s thighs made it impossible for him to remain detached. His
cock grew rock-hard and formed a rigid bulge in his pants.

Judie writhed and moaned and Tybor looked up, checking her
reactions, making sure his expertise did not falter. Again he dipped his head
and brought Judie to orgasm with a cool efficiency Huon could not have
commanded. He could not have had his mouth between Judie’s legs and been able
to remain uninvolved. But when Judie arched and gasped, then sagged into
satisfied stupor, Tybor sat back, his breathing steady. No flush of desire
stained his skin and his eyes remained sharp and focused.

Judie’s lungs heaved and she struggled to sit up. Her face
glowed and the color deepened as she took stock of her situation. She tried to
close her thighs but Tybor rested his hand there, preventing her.

“Ty. Please.” She didn’t meet his eyes. “I feel wrong. I’m
naked and you and Huon are still fully dressed.”

Tybor smiled. If Judie Scanlon hadn’t had two glasses of
wine she must have seen, as Huon did, that the smile never reached his eyes.
Tybor hadn’t smiled properly since Judie had talked about the massacres of the
Dvalinn. The massacres she didn’t believe had happened.

Huon pulled her back to rest against him. “That was just for
you. You deserve something special after having such a difficult day at work.”

Judie snatched a throw rug from the back of the sofa and
draped it over her. “I like feeling all wild and daring but I can’t lie here
like this and feel comfortable.”

“It’s erotic…you naked and spread out like a treat for us,”
Tybor said and picked up Judie’s wine glass again, urging her to take a sip.
“Try to relax. We want you to be… comfortable.”

“I’ll be tipsy if I’m not careful. I don’t want a hangover
in the morning,” she replied. “Even if I resign I have to work out my notice.”

“Surely your boss would let you take the day off?” Huon
asked.

Judie snuggled against him and took another sip of wine.
“You don’t know Brian Hopewood.”

Huon leaned forward and took a nibbling bite of her ear.
“Tell us about him. Did he tell you how he intends to wipe out the demons?”

She hiccupped. “Brian says the demons are attracted to the
energy of ley lines. He says he’s going to trap some of the young ones and wait
until warrior demons come to rescue them. He’ll kill the fighters and then he
and his group will attack all the demon cities at once. They’re going to take
the electrical weapons I make, plus poison gas in backpacks. I don’t have to
make the poison packs. Abraham was supposed to be getting all that set up but
then he disappeared.” She took another sip of wine. “I know it’s all a product
of Brian’s imagination but I don’t like it.” She looked around in befuddlement.
“Poison is bad. Although I s’pose if there were demons, they would be bad too.
Do you think demons are evil?” She stopped for a moment, then answered her own
question. “If they weren’t evil they wouldn’t be called demons, would they?”

“Only humans call us demons.”

Huon knew he shouldn’t have said it the instant the words
left his mouth. He didn’t need Tybor’s dangerous scowl to tell him he’d said
the wrong thing. Every muscle in his body tensed, ready for fight or flight,
whichever was needed.

But Judie was too far gone in drink to notice his appalling
blunder. “Well of course only humans call them that. Who else is there to call
them anything? You’re silly.”

“How many people does Brian have in Venice?”

Judie blinked and held a shaky hand up in front of her face.
“Um, lezzsee. There’s Brian, and Peter and David and Anthony and Giorgio, and
Alexis, and Abraham…oh no, not Abraham. Abraham is missing and he’s probably
drownded in the canal or somethin’, which is very sad, but I didn’t like Abraham.”

“Why didn’t you like Abraham?” Tybor asked quietly.

“He encraged…encouraged Brian. He told him shtories about
demons and Brian would get even more worked up. And he talked about killing
demons and he laughed. Don’t like that. Brian gives me th’creeps.”

Tybor made a choking sound and Judie opened her eyes, which
had begun to drift closed. “Wassa matter, Ty?”

Tybor shook his head. “Nothing. So what was Abraham going to
do when he left Venice?”

“I dunno, really,” Judy mumbled. “Brian minshined…menshoned something
about attacking from simul…simul…simultaneous ley points. He had a map, but I
din’t wanna look at it.” Her eyes rolled in her head. “Wassa point?”

“Where’s the map, Judie?” Tybor demanded, but Judie clasped
her hand to her mouth, her face turning pale.

“I don’ feel so good.” Her shoulders heaved.

At a nod from Tybor, Huon picked her up and carried her to
the bathroom. He stood her up and she put her hand out to steady herself
against the wall. She waved him away.

“I c’n manage myself,” she said and slammed the door shut.

Huon strode back to Tybor. “I don’t like this.”

“Compared to what Hopewood has planned for the Dvalinn,
whatever happens to Judie Scanlon is nothing. Nothing!” Tybor’s lip curled.
“She’s human. You heard what her kind are prepared to do.”

“Not all of them, Tybor. You told me yourself you used to
like to come to Venice and mix with the humans.”

Tybor swallowed, his face twisting as if he tasted bile. “If
it was safe once, it no longer is. The Dvalinn will disappear like the fae or
the selkies.”

“I learned about them in school,” Huon said sadly. “They’ve
all gone.”

“Gone or gone into hiding,” Tybor replied. “Because of
humans. And the Dvalinn are called demons and hunted by a predator who’s made
it his life’s work to destroy us. We have to get what information Judie Scanlon
can give us, and get it fast. And we have to make sure she’s not thinking
clearly enough to ask awkward questions.” Although his voice was quiet it
carried a hard edge of menace. “Especially when you don’t have the sense to
keep your mouth shut. Are you trying to get us killed?”

“I know I stuffed up,” Huon whispered. “I won’t do it
again.”

They were interrupted by the sound of retching coming from
the bathroom.

“You deliberately got her drunk.”

“I did what it takes.” Tybor said, standing up. “The
survival of our people depends on what we do here and
nothing
comes
before that. Not you or me and certainly not the sensibilities of a human
woman.”

He turned. Judie stood at the door, her face pale. For one
horrible moment Huon thought she might have heard Tybor, but she was focused on
her own misery.

“I think I should go home.” She pulled the blanket tighter
around her shoulders. “I just need to get my clothes.”

“You aren’t well enough to leave. You can stay here. We
insist,” Huon said and glared at Tybor.

Tybor bent to pick up Judie’s top and skirt. “You’ll feel
better in your own bed.”

Tears gathered in Judie’s eyes. “I feel so embarrassed about
this.”

“Not at all,” Tybor said. “It can happen to anyone.” He
handed her clothes to her. “Now, you go into the bathroom. Have a shower. It
will make you feel better. Then, when you’re dressed, Huon will escort you
home.”

She turned obediently and went to the bathroom.

As soon as the door shut, Huon began to speak. “How could
you? First you get her drunk then instead of—”

Tybor held up his hand and silenced him. They stood there,
glaring at each other, until Huon heard the rush of water from the shower, then
Tybor spoke, fast and low.

“We need to get inside Brian Hopewood’s headquarters, so you
take Judie back to her flat—all the way to her door. You wait until she’s gone
inside, then you go back downstairs to Hopewood’s office. Even he must need
some sleep. You find a place to hide yourself and you wait. When you’re sure
the place is empty, you get inside and check the layout. Make sketches, find
out everything you can. And get that map.”

Huon nodded. “Okay.”

“Don’t fuck this up!” Tybor snapped.

“I won’t,” Huon began, but arguing was a waste of time. He
had to prove himself, prove to Tybor he would not make another mistake. “I’ll
be back as soon as I can.”

Tybor’s face looked grim. “If Hopewood hasn’t got any traps
set up. If he has, you might not be back at all.”

The water shut off. Tybor took a deep breath. By the time
Judie emerged from the shower he looked relaxed and the fake smile curled his
mouth once more.

Judie looked from one man to the other. “I’m really sorry. I
hope you can forgive me…that I haven’t disgusted you too much.”

Huon leaned forward and kissed her. He noted with relief
that she’d made use of their toothpaste. “These things happen. Come on. I’ll
get you home.”

She remained silent on the short trip, walking by his side.
The cool night air seemed to have sobered her, because after a moment she said,
“Something was wrong tonight.”

Huon glanced at her, then looked ahead again. “People get
drunk. Don’t worry about it.”

“No.” Speculation sounded in her voice. “Something else. Ty
wasn’t happy. When he touched me, when he did…you know, what he did, it didn’t
feel right.”

Huon stopped this time and grasped her shoulders and looked
into her eyes. “You came.”

Even in the light of the street lamps he could see her
blush. “Yes. But I’d had a couple of glasses of wine and you know alcohol
lowers the inhibitions, but it doesn’t make me blind, deaf and stupid. It just
felt wrong. Ty didn’t enjoy it, I know he didn’t. And you…you didn’t do
anything much but hold me.”