Authors: Rob Thurman
"You don't have to." She leaned to kiss me. We'd kissed before, but not like this. Our first had been with the relief of rescue, the second a bittersweet good-bye. This was the kiss of a different life. Heat and hope and all the time in the world. There were only the two of us. No monsters, without or within. Dreams can be that way, the good ones. Then you wake up. You always wake up.
Because they are only dreams.
"Stubborn."
I opened my eyes as George's voice still lingered in the air. I actually heard it—heard her. She wasn't there, yet I knew if I saw her … if she showed up at my door at that moment, she would be wearing crimson, gold, and a garnet.
But that was something I wasn't going to think about. Couldn't think about. I touched the small plait of copper hair tied around my wrist, a memento of times past. Of doubts present.
No, I'd made my decision, and it was the right one. I knew it. In my gut, I knew it, even if no one else did. I sat up and waited for the pain to distract me from useless thoughts. It didn't come. I looked down. The bandage was still gone; it hadn't been replaced. There was no need to. The raw crater was gone. In its place was an indentation, still fist-sized, but more shallow, about a quarter of an inch deep— as if that fist had been gently pressed against soft clay. The scar tissue was purple and thick and ugly as hell. I couldn't have cared less. When I was a kid, Sophia had once told me that, while I was a monster, I was a beautiful one. I'd known from that moment on that what was on the outside didn't count for anything. Our mother had been beautiful too, physically, but inside she was as ugly as any Annis or revenant. Uglier in some ways. They had their excuse. She'd had none.
There was a rustle of paper as I pushed the covers aside. A note started to fall to the floor and I caught it before it could … with my left hand. The weakness was gone, the muscle damage repaired. Unfolding the paper, I read words in an unfamiliar hand.
Now you are pretty.
Yeah, the wolves did appreciate a good scar. Delilah was no exception.
Niko had fixed the kind of food for breakfast that was normally banned from the apartment. Pancakes, bacon, greasy potatoes. Good,
good
food—not the soy, wheat, egg-substitute crap he normally tried to convince me to eat. "I should be dinner for a supernatural pit bull more often," I said around a mouthful of syrup and blueberries.
"Or not," he said matter-of-factly, turning a glass of juice back and forth between long, calloused fingers.
"Or not," I said apologetically. I didn't see the evidence of a sleepless night in his face, but I knew it was there nonetheless. I shoveled in another forkful of potatoes. "You tell the others about Sawney's new family?"
"The revenants? Yes. No one was precisely thrilled." It wasn't a surprise. Revenants weren't popular with anyone or anything. Dumb, smelly, and mean.
Leaning back with my belly full, I considered burping, but my knee gave a phantom twinge with the memory of the last time I'd had that idea. Nik enjoyed good manners and he enjoyed them in others…with great and occasionally painful enthusiasm. Painful for me anyway. Patting my chest lightly through the T-shirt I'd slipped on, I said, "Delilah did good work."
"Amazing work." He drank the juice in several smooth swallows and then pushed the glass away. "She was here nearly the entire night, but what she accomplished…" He shook his head. "She was worth every penny."
"I thought she was helping us because of Flay." I decided I could fit in one more piece of bacon and sat back up to reach for the plate.
"Yes, but she
is
Kin. Family is important, money is important. There's no reason she can't honor both. I admire her initiative. Your initiative, however, is a different story." A foot rapped my ankle briskly. "I cooked. You clear."
"Hey, I'm wounded," I protested. "Have a heart."
"You
were
wounded." His foot impacted again, this time with a little more English on it. "You
are
lazy. Let us work on making that past tense as well." He stood. "I teach three classes today. I'll be home by six. We'll go hunting then."
There was a barrette on the dresser in my room, all that was left of one of Sawney's victims. Katie the tomboy's sunny hair clip. "I'm ready for a little hunting trip," I said with determination. I could call Ishiah and ask to get my shift switched from tonight to this afternoon. He wouldn't have a problem with it, and if he did, I'd sic Goodfellow on him.
As it turned out, Ishiah wanted to speak to me, the sooner the better. I showed up at the Ninth Circle an hour later, wondering, not for the first time, if it was Ishiah's dark sense of humor or if there was more to peris than Robin knew.
"Good. You're here."
I continued to wrap the bar apron around my waist and nodded. "Here I am," I confirmed, puzzled. Ishiah wasn't usually one for berating the obvious. "Although, trust me, I deserved a sick day."
"You found the elusive Sawney Beane, then?" His wings were out in force and rustling impatiently.
"Rumor mill's already working overtime, huh?" The bar was mostly empty, but last night it would've been full, and monsters like to gossip the same as anyone else. "Yeah, we found him, and he pretty much kicked our asses." I poured myself a glass of tomato juice. Not as manly as a slug of whiskey, but better at replacing iron from blood loss. "So, what'd you want to talk to me about? Am I going to be employee of the month? Is there a plaque involved?"
"After impaling that Gulon with a beer tap? It seems unlikely," he said with annoyance.
"He brought in outside appetizers. It's against the rules." Not to mention that the appetizer had been a dog. A big playful mutt who hadn't had a clue what was in store for him. The beer tap had cleaned right up when I'd finished with it. No harm done, although the Gulon probably wouldn't agree with that assessment. "How is Rover doing, by the way?"
"That is beside the point," he said, eyes stony. I wasn't buying it. One of the other bartenders, a peri named Danyeal—Danny to me—said Ishiah had kept the dog, which was now fat, happy, and a veritable fountain of urine whenever his master's back was turned.
"And what was the point again?" I asked innocently.
"Never mind." He got out while the getting was good and folded his arms. "I want to talk to you about Robin."
"Goodfellow?" I said curiously. "You're not going to ban him from the bar, are you? He'll only show up more often if you do. Probably move the hell in."
"No." The wings were spreading now. It was the unconscious reaction of peris to stress or danger. Danny flared his wings at even the hint of a bar fight, but as the steely Ishiah was about the furthest thing from high-strung as you could get, I was betting that danger of the big and bad kind was the option here. "I'm hearing things," he announced quietly.
"What kind of things?" I prodded.
"There's word that Robin is being targeted. I heard it just today." Catching a glimpse of feathers from the corner of his eye, he hissed in exasperation and the wings wavered like a heat mirage and disappeared. "I don't know who's behind it. I don't know if it's true, but the rumor is out there. I would tell him myself, but his harridan housekeeper won't put my calls through. And if I showed up at his home in person, I might have to tell him over crossed swords."
I still wanted to know what had led to the peculiar animosity on Robin's side versus the vexed watchfulness on Ishiah's, but now wasn't the time. "Targeted?" The museum. "He was attacked two days ago by a sirrush. We thought it was a random thing. Shit." I grabbed my cell phone. "You don't know anything? Who's behind it? Why?"
"No. Nothing. It's the flimsiest of hearsay, the source of which I can't determine." His jaw set as his eyes narrowed. "And I've made the effort." His hand clenched into a fist. "An extensive effort."
Damn. If Ishiah couldn't get to the bottom of it, it was going to be a hard nut to crack. Goodfellow's answering machine picked up and I swore again. "I've got to go." I ripped off the apron as I came around the bar and tossed it on the counter.
"Make sure the son of a bitch watches his back," he commanded.
"I'll do one better," I responded as I hit the door. "I'll watch it for him."
When I arrived, I was sweaty and breathing hard from my run up twenty-five flights. I didn't take elevators. A good fight was about defense and offense. It was hard to get a good defense going in a steel box—a giant mousetrap, for all intents and purposes. And I wasn't fond of anything with the word "trap" in it.
After I'd pounded my fist against the door, Seraglio opened it and looked up at me with disapproval. "You most surely are a loud young man."
"Sorry, ma'am. I need to talk to Rob." I felt as if I were six and asking if my friend could come out and play.
Smelling of cinnamon and honey, she pursed full lips painted a glossy burgundy and shook her head. Her long, cascading silver earrings rang like church bells. "He's not here." But she stepped aside to let me in. "He may be at work or he may be out debauching the innocent. Lord above, I cannot keep up with that man's schedule."
"Who can?" I muttered. Robin had kept his non-human origins from the woman, but there was no way he could conceal his sexual and alcoholic exploits. He didn't even try. Hell, why would he? He was as proud as if there were a Nobel category for high living and he was up for consideration. Seducing, swilling and just proud to be nominated. I tried his cell again. Nothing. "Do you know his office number?"
Clucking her tongue, she went to the kitchen and opened a drawer to pull out a leather notebook. She then pointed out a number with a long nail the same color as her lipstick. It was amazingly pristine for her profession, I thought as I called the provided digits. He wasn't there either.
"Goddamn it."
Fathomless black eyes pinned me disapprovingly as those startlingly immaculate nails tapped against the counter. "Sorry, ma'am," I said again. In the past year I'd fought against an army of Auphe and a massive two-headed werewolf and yet this woman had me bobbing and weaving. "I just need to find Rob." I remembered to use his "human" name with ease. What Sophia hadn't taught us about lying and dissembling, a life on the run had filled in.
The trouble was I couldn't tell her that I was worried about him. She would ask why and Robin wasn't here to come up with one of the brilliant and utterly false stories he was so good at spinning. I tended to go with the "What's it to you, asshole?" response to questions I didn't want to answer. And I could only picture which of the household appliances around us would be inserted in me if I used that line with Seraglio.
Her eyes were still marked with maternal disappointment at my poor etiquette, but she relented enough to say, "I can't help you, sugar. I am not psychic, and, in this house, thank the heavens above for that."
No, she wasn't, but I knew someone who was. This "goddamn it" I kept silent and within.
George didn't carry a cell phone, so I needed to show up with the rest of the supplicants at the ice cream shop near Pier 17 on the East River. As usual, I was fresh out of cash for cab fare and it took two trains and a hike to make it there from Robin's place.
George used to hold court at the ice cream shop after school. Once she had graduated, she kept the same schedule. People needed to be able to find her, to depend on her, she said. She hadn't yet decided whether college was for her or not. Service to others came first. Of course, if she'd look into her own future, she'd know if college was there. But she didn't look and she wouldn't. That would be cheating and George didn't cheat. Things happened as they were meant to, and while the little events could be changed, the big ones never could. Trying would be not only a waste of time, but also an insult to existence itself. She could tell those who came to her the small things and keep to herself the unchangeable, but she didn't see any reason to tempt herself by looking past the distant turnings of her own path. Besides, she'd once said with cheeky smile and earnest heart, it would ruin the surprise.
The ice cream shop was run by a partially blind, mostly deaf codger whose name I remembered only half the time. George kept him in business. She didn't take anything from the people who came to her, but she did gently suggest people buy an ice-cream cone or soda as thanks for having a place out of the weather. I'd yet to see a person say no to her.
Except for me.
I didn't have time to mess with ice cream and I slapped a few bucks on the counter. "Treat the next couple of kids," I ordered to the old guy half dozing behind it on a high-backed stool, and headed for George's table. She sat serenely, hands folded on Formica. The Oracle of Pearl Street. Brown eyes warm, wide mouth softly curved, she was crimson, gold, and garnet…just like my dream, just like I knew she would be. "Cal." She reached out as I sat opposite her and took my hand as easily as if she'd done it a hundred times before. "Mr. Geever has missed you."
"I'll bet." He was completely asleep now, head pillowed on the counter by my money. I looked down at her skin against mine, sunset amber against moon pale.
Monster pale.
I slid my hand from beneath hers, missing the warmth of it instantly. I didn't look at her eyes or her short cap of wavy red hair or the faint freckles that spilled across her nose and the tops of her gold-brown cheeks. I didn't have to—I had them memorized. "I need to find Robin," I said abruptly. "He's in trouble."
"Trouble?" Her brow wrinkled. Never one to back down, she left her rejected hand on the table as if it were only a matter of time before I changed my mind.
"Yeah. Something is after him. I have no idea who or what, and now I can't find him." My own hands I dropped into my lap to rest on my thighs. Get thee behind me, Satan, or get thee under the table. Whatever.
"Robin." She said it as if she were calling him, as if he were around the corner. Out of sight, but still within earshot. Closing her eyes, she frowned, eyes moving behind the copper-brushed lids as though scanning the page of a book. Several seconds passed and then her eyes flew open. I thought it was with distress or fear, but then she flushed. "Oh."
I got it immediately. This
was
Goodfellow she was trying for a peek at. "Oh," I echoed sheepishly before apologizing. "Shit. Sorry. I didn't think about that."
"He's very…limber." She parted her lips, showing small teeth in a gamin smile. "I'm impressed and educated."
"He's okay, then?" I leaned back in my chair, tried not to think about the word "limber" and that knowing smile she'd flashed, and exhaled in relief.
"He's fine." Eyes bright, she tilted her head. "And very happy right now. Among friends—the friendliest of friends."
"You're laughing at me," I snorted. "Go ahead. Someone should get some enjoyment out of this besides Goodfellow. Can you give me his address? He's safe now. He might not be after he leaves." She would know if he would be or not, but I wasn't going to ask. If she'd been willing to look that far, she would've told me. Besides, I refused to believe in that whole "everything happens for a reason" bullshit. Any universe that would actually
plan
my being born of an Auphe wasn't a universe I wanted any part of. Destiny and fate could kiss my ass.
"Yes. I can give you the address." She did and watched as I stood up. "You
are
stubborn, you know."
Just as she'd said that morning in my dream. "Some things are worth it," I said quietly. And they were…worth being stubborn, worth the sacrifice. Like keeping her safe. Like letting the Auphe line die with me.
"Cal."
I shook my head and stood. "Thanks for the help, Georgie." I made it to the door before she spoke again.
"You've run all your life, Caliban. You have to stop. Sooner or later, you have to." The bell overhead rang as I opened the door, but it didn't drown out the next words. "Please make it sooner."
Significant words. They deserved to be thought about, to be considered carefully. I pushed them out of my head the moment I passed through the door. I needed my resolve, which wouldn't be helped by mulling over what she had said. Or by the fact that every time I turned my back on her felt like I was turning my back on a good portion of my life. Those things couldn't matter. Not if I wanted to keep her safe, and in my life she never could be.