WarriorsApprentice (9 page)

He stepped out of the gloom and sank down onto her bed. “My
behavior was neither gallant nor respectful.” He picked up her hand and
interlinked his fingers with hers. “I won’t offer excuses, but perhaps an
explanation might help you forgive me.”

He looked into her eyes and she felt herself falling into
the dark chocolate depths. A dark and bitter chocolate, but with a heat she
could not resist.

She shook her head, trying to break the spell. Forgiving him
too easily would be a mistake. If their association continued, maybe even
became a relationship—and God, how much she wanted it to—she had to set limits.
Ty could so easily reduce her to an obedient slave, willing to do anything, to
accept anything if only he would stay with her. Ty had so masterful a
personality, it would take extraordinary strength of will for those around him
to avoid being subsumed.

Ty’s instinctive dominance fascinated and attracted her.
Some basic female instinct responded to the alpha male, but another, more
cerebral part demanded she maintain her self-respect.

“I
was
offended. You made me feel…used.”

“It was not my intention to make you feel that way,” Ty
replied. “I won’t discuss the reasons, but it has been…some time since I last
engaged in sex. I wasn’t prepared for the, ah…power of the experience. It left
me shaken and I needed to walk…to clear my head. I didn’t think about how that
would appear to you. Again, I apologize.”

Ty had found the sex tonight so profoundly moving he
couldn’t cope? Really? Sex with
her
? And it had been “some time” since Ty
had engaged in
any
sex at all? Again, really? What was wrong with the
women he met? How could a man who looked like Ty, with his confidence, his off-the-scale
levels of attractiveness, not have had sex for “some time”? Did he live in a
cloister?

Maybe they both did. There had to be some explanation for
the obvious dearth of sexual activity in their lives. She didn’t think she was
mistaken about Huon’s lack of experience. In what world would Huon’s glowing
beauty, combined with his strength and boyish charm, not be admired and sought
after? Some deeper mystery was at work here and Judie longed to get to the
bottom of it.

The only way to solve the mystery and to find out where this
adventure, emotional and sexual, would take her was to see more of
both
of them and to do that she would have to…

“I accept your apology,” she said. ”This time.”

“Thank you,” Ty said. “It’s more than I deserve.” And he
leaned in to kiss her.

His mouth, smooth and cool, covered hers and she opened to
him, allowing his tongue to glide in, taking possession. Dominating. She
shrugged and gave herself up to the experience. Ty’s approach to sex reflected
his basic nature and she might as well enjoy it.

She drew him down toward the pillow but he pulled back.

“There has been a lot of difficult emotion here tonight. You
need time to work through it and you need to sleep.” He stood. “Come, Huon. Say
goodnight to Judie.”

Ty thought working through her emotions would help her
sleep? It
had
been a long time since he’d been with a woman. Ty’s kiss
had stirred her hunger, and now her body pulsed with renewed desire.

“I can think of a better ways to get me to sleep,” she said.
“You don’t have to leave.”

“Yes, we do,” Ty said, his words falling like iced water to
douse her fire. His tone left little room for negotiation. A small, tight smile
curved his lips. “Thank you for forgiving me.”

“Goodnight, Judie,” Huon said, leaning over her to kiss her
cheek. “We’ll see you again soon.”

While she tried to gather her breath to argue or entice, Ty
grabbed Huon’s shoulder, spun him around and ushered him out. Judie heard the
click as the outer apartment door locked.

She blinked, scrubbed her hands across her face and settled
back down in the bed and pulled up the covers. A twinge in the muscles of her
thighs reminded her of the physical activity of the night. She rolled onto her
side and closed her eyes.

Doubt, speculation and hope chased each other ’round and ’round
in her head, mixed with lust and a sharp, needy emotion she was afraid to name.
She tossed and turned, lying on her stomach, then one side, then the other.
Sleep did not come for a long, long time.

* * * * *

Huon leaned on the railing of the bridge, watching the
lights reflected off the canal. Without turning, he said to Tybor, “You got the
mix between regret and a desire for privacy just right.”

“I’ve had practice,” Tybor grunted.

Huon swung his head around and opened his mouth.

“Don’t ask,” Tybor cautioned. “I won’t tell you.”

“Okay, tell me this instead,” Huon replied. “Why did you
still insist we leave when Judie asked us to stay the night? It’s what we
want—access to her home and her information.”

“It’s human nature, something I know more about than you
do,” Tybor said. “She asked us to stay but there’s no way she’d be comfortable
with us there after all that’s happened tonight. She’d be on edge. If she slept
at all with us both there it’d be lightly. She’d notice if one of us got up to
search.”

“But if we’d just stayed there and done nothing, she’d get
used to us,” Huon protested. “Then tomorrow night, or the one after…”

“No. If we don’t want to arouse her suspicions, we have to
take it slowly. You said it yourself. She can’t feel pressured or threatened.”

“You— We could use the time to reassure her. To get close.
She wants us.” He lifted his chin. “And I want her. I think you do too.”

“I want to do this job and get out. That’s all.” Tybor’s
gaze fixed on the water below them. “Don’t get involved with her. Don’t forget
who and what she is.”

“She’s a woman,” Huon replied. “A beautiful, generous,
hot
woman.”

“She’s a human,” Tybor ground out. “And Hopewood’s weapons
designer. Her creations will destroy our people if we don’t stop her. You’re
young—you can’t see the risk you take if you become too involved.”

“It always comes back to that, doesn’t it,” Huon protested,
anger rising. “You never let me forget you are so much more experienced than
me.”

“Because I’m older than you,” Tybor replied. “I have seen
and done things I hope you never have to. Her kind hate us and want to destroy
us. I will not forget that and neither should you.”

“Not all of them are like that,” Huon said, despair rising
up inside him. “You needn’t worry, though. I know what my mission is and I
intend to carry it out.”

“The safest way to do that is to keep a mental distance from
Judie Scanlon,” Tybor said. “When the time comes, you have to do whatever you
have to.”

“I’ll do what is necessary,” Huon said, tired of arguing.
“But I’m not going to hide from what I feel.”

“Are you suggesting I am?” Tybor asked, his tone low and
dangerous.

Huon merely raised an eyebrow.

“I admit I find this situation disturbing, but not for the
reasons you seem to think.” Tybor pounded his clenched fist on the stone
balustrade. “We’re in a dangerous situation and this emotion-laden atmosphere
is clouding your judgment. I won’t let it cloud mine.”

“No. You’ll ignore it, just like you’re ignoring whatever it
is that made you kiss me,” Huon snapped.

Tybor said nothing.

“Of course you will,” Huon said in disgust. “I’m hungry. You
want something to eat, or are you planning to ignore all your weaknesses?” He
pushed himself away from the railing.

“I could eat,” Tybor said.

They walked toward the fish markets, where they found a tiny
café open in the early hours to cater for the Venetian fishing fleet. The
atmosphere between them remained dark and tense. Huon didn’t want to talk about
the actions Tybor expected him to take and trivial conversation was impossible,
so they ate in silence.

When they’d finished, Tybor said, “The best thing we can do
is hole up in your room for the day and sleep.” He stood and rolled his shoulders.
“Tired people make mistakes.”

Huon nodded and yawned. While Tybor’s training had prepared
him for fatigue, last night had been so different… His mind drifted back,
replaying the moments when he’d been thrusting into Judie’s warm body. There
were no words to explain the exquisite wonder of the sensation, the sense of
welcome and rightness he’d found there.

No matter what his orders said, he couldn’t destroy such
sweetness, beauty and fire. She didn’t deserve to die.

In the half-light of dawn and with his mind elsewhere, he
stumbled and lurched into an oncoming pedestrian. Huon righted himself and
began to apologize but the man wasn’t looking at him.

His eyes were fixed on Tybor, who had turned to ask, “Is
everything okay?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Huon picked up his pace, hoping Tybor hadn’t noticed his
clumsiness. Even though they were under no current threat, Tybor’s constant
exhortations to be alert at all times echoed in his brain. How could he expect
Tybor to respect him if he literally stumbled at the first hurdle?

But if Tybor had been aware of Huon’s embarrassing lapse he
gave no sign of it, turning into their hotel and mounting the stairs without
further speech. As soon as they were inside, Huon flung himself on the bed.

“Hey! Who said you get the bed?” Tybor complained.

“My room, my bed.”

Tybor raised one eyebrow. “We’ll take it in turns.”

Mischief prompted Huon. “We could share.”

A pair of strong, dark brows snapped together. “We’ll do it
in shifts. One of us should be on watch anyway.”

Huon stuck his hands behind his head. “You’re standing. You
take first watch.”

On a blown-out breath, Tybor said, “And you can get your
beauty slee—”

The door burst open before he finished speaking, the flimsy
lock ripped from its ancient moorings by a booted foot. A man charged into the
room, a knife held in his hand.

“Demon!” he grated out and lunged forward.

Tybor spun to face the danger and the stranger lashed out,
slicing downward through the shirt and into the muscle of Tybor’s left upper
arm. Blood spurted out, spattering bright scarlet across the wall.

Huon had leapt up from the bed at the first explosion
inward, his hand going to his pocket even as he shouted Tybor’s name. Arterial
blood continued to pump in bursts from Tybor’s arm.

Tybor, his face a sickly mud-gray, lashed out with his foot,
trying to kick his attacker in the groin, but the man slashed with the knife,
aiming for the underside of Tybor’s leg, attempting to sever the ligament or
hack into another blood vessel. Tybor fell to the floor, blood spilling over
the gaping edges of the gash in his pants.

The attacker, who had to be one of Hopewood’s Gatekeepers,
stepped over Tybor and rushed toward Huon.

Huon thrust his hands into his pockets, found what he searched
for and squeezed. He raised his arm and flung the fireball at the attacker.

The man ducked at Huon’s first movement. He was quick, more
agile than Huon would have believed, and prepared for the attack. The fireball
burst against the wall in a silent explosion and although the ricochet singed
the man’s hair and must have burned his back, he kept coming.

“You’ll have to do better than that, demon.”

Huon didn’t waste his breath replying. He reached in again
and hurled another ball. This one hit the man square in the chest and he
staggered and went down on one knee, almost on top of Tybor. For one horrifying
second Huon thought the fall would plunge the knife the Gatekeeper still
carried straight into Tybor’s chest, but the man regained his feet, beating at
his burning shirt with his free hand. He used the point of the knife to rip
away the charred embers of fabric. Underneath he wore a vest made of a silvery
material.

Huon swore. The opalescent glitter of the garment told him
the Gatekeepers had discovered that mica could be used as a shield against
fireballs. What else did they know?

“So, the demons have recruited a human apprentice to fight
their battles,” the Gatekeeper said, swinging around to face Huon. “Your demon
master failed you when he left you to fight with demon weapons. Launching a
fireball takes energy. You have thrown two already. A demon the size of that
one,” he looked at Tybor, his lip curling in disgust, “might be able to launch
five or six in a row, but you are not built like him. It will take time for you
to build up enough power to launch another fireball. Time you don’t have.” The
human laughed, a blood-chilling sound too close to the edge of madness.
“Prepare to die, demon lover. May your last thought be this—soon all of
demonkind will perish and the Earth will be free of their evil.”

He held the knife in front of him like a lance and charged.
The moment before he struck, Huon side-stepped and hurled an energy ball from
point-blank range straight into the man’s face.

Huon didn’t stop to check if the man was dead. A direct hit
on any unshielded area of his body would guarantee that. Tybor lay unmoving
where he had fallen, a pool of blood surrounding him. Huon leapt over the
human’s body and dropped to his knees beside Tybor. He wrapped his hand above
the wound on Tybor’s arm and squeezed. The flow of blood ceased and Huon’s
pounding heartbeat slowed. He felt for the wound in Tybor’s leg with his free
hand.

“That’s just a shallow cut. Nothing to worry about.” Tybor’s
thready voice startled him. He watched as the dark eyes fluttered open. “Damn,
I fainted like a frightened little girl.”

Relief washed through Huon and he grinned. “So who’s the
tough guy now, huh? It’s not me down on the floor, bleeding all over the
place.”

The corners of Tybor’s mouth lifted a fraction. “I already
said you were good. Going to keep making me admit I was mistaken about you when
I first saw you?”