Lost Girl: Hidden Book One (7 page)

“What’s your thing?” I asked. Avoid the question by asking a question. It was my signature move.

“Witchcraft. And intelligence. I’m the eyes and ears.”

“Witchcraft?” I said. “Is that even real?”

Ada raised her eyebrows. “You control people’s thoughts. You fought a shapeshifter today. You’re asking me if witchcraft is real?”

I shrugged.

“Besides, I assumed you were a practitioner already,” Ada continued.

“Why?”

“That jade ring on your finger. You know what jade is for, right?”

I shook my head.

“It helps heal the self, wards off negative energies. It’s a decent defensive gem.”

“I just bought it because it’s pretty,” I said.

“You should learn some witchcraft, girl,” Ada said.

“Here she goes, pushing the witchcraft again,” Stone said, laughing. Ada shushed him.

I shook my head.

“You can also use it to fight, you know,” Ada said, smiling.

“Really?”

“Of course. It’s not all gems and potions. Though I’ve found those things to be imminently useful in my experience. If you can control your will, you’d be surprised at what you can do in a fight.”

“Such as?”

“Using your will, rather than your body, to push back an opponent. Being able to bind someone.”

“I can already bind, by telling them not to move,” I pointed out.

“But what if you come up against someone that won’t work on? Like Nain? Or the Puppeteer? That wouldn’t work against them, because they are telepaths like you.”

“You’re saying telepathic powers negate each other,” I said.

Ada nodded. The rest of the team was quiet, listening to our exchange. I could feel Nain’s eyes on me, sense the tension coming from him. It made me want to grit my teeth. From my limited knowledge of him, he was always like this. It exhausted me, just being near him. I glanced back up at Ada.

“So why did the Puppeteer’s work on me?”

Ada opened her mouth, closed it. Looked at Nain. “I don’t know.”

Nain met my eyes. “I suspect she has a few witches on her team. Some of the things she can do don’t make any sense, as far as telepaths go. Her associates have witches and warlocks on the payroll. No reason to think she hasn’t followed suit.”

I nodded.

“Which brings us to the reason I brought Molly here. She needs some training, and I’m going to do what I can to help her.”

“So you’re not joining the team?” Brennan asked, disappointed.

I shook my head. “I’m not really a team type of person.”

“You’re kidding,” he said, looking at Nain. “You’re not just going to accept that, are you? Jesus, man, the power coming off of her. We need her.”

“We’ve been over it. She works alone.” Nain shrugged.

“Then why did you bring her here?” George asked. It was the first time he’d spoken the entire time, and he had a high-pitched, wavery voice that I found irritating. “She shouldn’t be here if she’s not on the team. How do we know where her loyalties lie?”

Stone, who was sitting next to George, smacked the young man in the back of his head, not gently. “If Nain and Brennan trust her, that’s enough.” I looked at the older man, then glanced at Brennan, who had been watching me. He winked at me, and I looked away. These people were all fucking insane.

“No, it’s a valid question,” Nain said, holding his hands up. “She needs training, and this is the best place to do that. Free of distractions. She can come and go as she pleases.”

Everyone watched me. “I really didn’t want to be brought here or get involved with any of you. Nain is a stubborn pain in the ass,” I said, giving him a bit of stink-eye for good measure.

Brennan laughed, Stone guffawed, and everyone else looked at me in surprise. Clearly, Nain ran a tight ship. Not used to being questioned. I’d be damned if I was going to ‘yes, sir’ or ‘no, sir’ Nain. No way.

“Well, I’m hoping to change her mind about joining up,” Nain said. “We can’t make her do anything she doesn’t want to do. And pity the fool who tried,” he muttered under his breath. Brennan laughed.

“What does she need training in? Maybe we can help,” Veronica said.

“Shielding.”

“Oh.”

“She also has some control issues that we’re going to be working on.”

“Uh, control issues? I have to ask again, especially considering how much power she can throw around, was it really a smart idea to bring her here?” George asked, and he turned abruptly to Stone. “And if you hit me in the head, I will make sure you never find your motorcycle again, old man.”

Stone just grinned.

Nain cleared his throat. I could feel irritation coming from him. “You don’t need to worry about it,” he said.

“She could probably use a sparring partner every once in a while too,” Brennan said, looking at me and smiling.

Nain nodded. “Probably. Between the two of us, she’ll get plenty of combat practice.”

“Hey, wait. I never agreed to that,” I said, glaring at Nain.

“You want to work solo? Fine. But I’m going to make damn sure that you learn everything you need to to keep yourself and everyone else safe.” Steel in his tone, determination washing over me like a wave.

That was when I realized that I was utterly and completely screwed.

Once the team started to disperse, leaving to do whatever it is a super hero squad of freaks do, Nain and I wandered up onto the roof of his building. I looked around. There was a wrought-iron table and chairs. Barbecue grill. Three wooden lounge chairs, painted bright red, and an old-fashioned metal glider. The view was fantastic, overlooking the Detroit Institute of Arts and the campus of Wayne State University, which looked much prettier from this vantage point than it did when I was at work there. Downtown glittered not too far in the distance in the opposite direction. We stood in silence for a while.

“I don’t think the crew is especially fond of me,” I finally said.

“Does it matter?” Nain asked, leaning against the low wall that surrounded the roof deck.

I shrugged.

“Brennan likes you. Stone and Ada think you’re all right.”

I could feel Nain’s eyes on me. Felt empty and just generally off-balance under his gaze. “And George and Veronica look at me like I’m about to sprout horns or something.”

“They’re the weakest among us. Easily threatened. You could have come in looking like Glinda the good witch or something and they still would have been terrified of you. It’s as it should be.”

I didn’t respond. Didn’t know why it even mattered to me. I stared out over the city, needing to ask Nain something, knowing I wouldn’t want to hear the answer. He stood, as always, silent, watching, tense. Waiting.

“So, Brennan’s a shifter. Ada’s a witch. George, Veronica, and Stone are all basically Normals with a power thrown into the mix.”

He nodded.

“I recognized Brennan and Ada’s power signatures. I’ve come across similar ones before and just didn’t know it. Didn’t know what to look for.”

“Yeah. That’s part of the reason I wanted you to meet everyone. It’s not possible to be around as much crazy shit as you have and not come across something like us.”

I took a breath. “So I know what they are. And I know what you are.” I paused. “What the hell am I?” I asked quietly.  I couldn’t look at him, kept my eyes glued to a skyscraper in the distance. He was tense, something else. He was harder to read than most.

“I think you already know,” he finally said. “You don’t need me to tell you.” I closed my eyes.

“My power has a weird response to you.”

“Yeah.”

“I get stronger the more pain I cause.”

“Yeah.”

I finally turned and looked at him. “How is that even possible? How?”

“Demons spawn just like anyone else. A boy demon and girl demon got together….”

“Oh, shut up,” I muttered. He laughed.

“This is so messed up.”

“I’m not telling you anything you didn’t already suspect. I knew it the second I first saw you.” He paused. “There’s something off about you, though.”

“You’re just now figuring this out?” I asked, sitting down on one of the lounge chairs.

“Your power feels off, I mean.”

“How?”

He paused, thinking. “You’re incredibly strong. Probably stronger than I am. Fifty years ago or so, when I still had my demonic form, I was much stronger than I am now. You still could have flattened me, even back then.”

“What happened to your demon form?” I asked.

He gave me a sharp look. “Not now.”

I raised my eyebrow.
Hit a sore spot, did I?

He ignored me. “What I’m saying is, you’re one of the most powerful demons I’ve ever met. But there’s something more to you, something else.”

“So I’m not a hundred percent demon? Maybe one of my parents is a witch or something?”

He shrugged. “Or something. It doesn’t feel like witch either.”

“Well this has been really helpful,” I said, rolling my eyes. Felt irritation, impatience spike from him.

“It is very easy to get under your skin, you know that?” I asked.

He glared at me. “No. You’re just a very irritating woman.”

“What’s your name?” I asked him.

“What the hell is with the change in subject? And I told you my name.” Irritation, again.

“Your real name. We both know Nain is from what the Normals started calling you with all of that Nain Rouge stuff. What’s your name, really?”

He snorted. “You think I’m going to give you my real name? Names have power in our world.”

“The freak world?”

“The demon world.”

“You know my real name,” I pointed out.

“No. And neither do you,” he said.

I looked at him, waiting. He huffed, impatient. “The name your real parents gave you. Whatever they called you when you spawned. That’s your real name. And since you don’t know them, you have no idea what they named you. You have the name the Normals gave you. It’s not who you really are.”

Silence stretched between us. Nain finally broke it. “We should probably practice shielding a little before you leave.”

I nodded.

He sat, cross legged, on the ground, waved me over. I came and sat the same way across from him. Our knees almost touched.

“Is it essential to sit like this?” I asked.

“No, but this way I’m close enough to reach you if you need to be physically controlled.”

I glared at him.

“Not that I’m expecting that to be an issue.”

“Of course,” I said.

“Okay. Close your eyes,” he said.

I’m going to try to get into your mind, I don’t know what I’ll see. What I see is between the two of us.
His voice in my mind.

“Stop. I don’t want to do this.” I started to get up. He reached out and held onto my wrist, preventing me from moving. His touch made me shiver, made something inside me rise in excitement. I tried to ignore it.

“Molls. Trust me. There’s nothing I’ll see there that can make me think less of you. Anything you’ve done, I’ve done worse.”

“It’s not the things I’ve done that I’m worried about you seeing,” I said, wrenching my wrist back. He let me go.

I met his eyes.

Trust me
.

I gave a small nod, closed my eyes again. I felt a warmth, a strong presence that I now recognized as uniquely Nain. It felt very different from the way the Puppeteer had felt, with her slick, oily presence.

I focused on keeping my mind blank, withstanding having him there at the periphery of my psyche. It made me feel sick, went against every instinct I had to keep my barriers intact.

Okay. Picture whatever you need to as a shield for your mind. Some people picture a wall, or a safe, or something like that. Picture it, make it real.

I focused. A steel box, impossible to open. Smooth and solid. Impenetrable.

After a few minutes, I felt like it was real, and strong.

Ready?

I nodded.

I felt Nain’s presence trying to make its way into my mind. It was almost physical. I could feel him inspecting the box, searching the sides, the corners, the top and bottom for signs of weakness. He started pushing at it, then harder. I focused on making the box stronger, holding it together. I felt sweat break out on my forehead, felt my box giving way under his power, and felt the full force of him in my mind.

He gasped and pulled back. I opened my eyes and looked at him.

“What did you see?”

“A young woman’s body. Abandoned building.”

I nodded. Made sense. Living nightmares and all that.

“Your mind is very strong. Your thoughts are clear. It almost feels like I’m living in them.”

“Is that different than usual?”

“Yes. Usually, stored thoughts have a fuzzy quality to them. Things people are thinking or envisioning right that moment are crystal clear. The older the memory, the fuzzier they are.”

“I haven’t had much experience looking for old thoughts. I have only dealt with the immediate ones.”

He nodded. “Again.”

I rebuilt my shield, tried to make it stronger. We went through it all again. It took him longer this time, and I could hear his breathing escalate with effort, as mine did. He finally made it in, and I groaned in annoyance. He didn’t leave right away, and I tried to push his presence out of my mind. He didn’t budge.

Rage filled me. “Nain, get out,” I said, opening my eyes.

He did. He met my eyes, and I saw the anger  I was feeling from him reflected there.

“Jesus Christ. What did you see?”

“A basement. A man.”

“Enough,” I said, standing up. “This lesson is over. Fuck.”

He stood up too. “I don’t choose what to see.”

“I know.” It still didn’t make it any less mortifying.

“Who was he?”

“A dead man,” I said, heading toward the stairwell. Walked out of the loft and promised myself I wouldn’t be coming back.

Chapter Six