A Kind Of Magic (9 page)

He turned into the garage and parked the bike. Just before he turned it off, he felt her squeeze him slightly before she lifted her head. She got off the bike first and stood beside him. There was a look in her light blue eyes, a longing he couldn’t quite identify.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

She inhaled deeply and nodded. “I just want this over with. I should have listened to you last night and destroyed it then. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize,” he said and swung his leg over the bike. “We didn’t expect for you to believe everything we told you, especially after finding out so much in one night.”

He took the helmet she offered him and watched her comb her fingers through her long hair. As he sat the helmet on the bike’s seat, all he could think about was running his fingers through her hair as he plunged inside of her.

Instead, he followed her and Val into the little box that raised them to their home.

He normally hated the ride, but this time as he stood behind and to the right of Elle, he watched her and her easy manner.

She was petite in height, with a body that held all the right curves, curves he wanted to run his hands over. He remembered her lacy pink underthings and wondered what she had on beneath her clothing now. He yearned to know so badly he nearly yanked her clothes off.

The bell chimed as they reached the top floor. As they entered, he heard Elle gasp and knew it was because the place was now clean and everything mended. No more broken glass or destroyed furniture.

“The Fae?” she asked after a moment.

“Aye,” Roderick answered as he shut the door behind him.

“They’re rather handy to have around,” she said with a bright smile as she walked to the kitchen. “I don’t know about you, boys, but I’m hungry.”

“Can you cook?” Val asked.

She looked over her shoulder at him. “I’m decent, but nothing to write home about.”

“What?” Val asked.

“It means I’m all right but not the best,” she answered.

“As long as there is food, I’ll eat it,” Val said as he went to the balcony.

Roderick watched Elle rummage around in the tall box that kept things cold.

What had Aimery told him it was? Ah, yes, a refrigerator. It was a great concept, and he wished he could take it back with him when they left this time.

He seated himself on the stool as Elle pulled out a package of meat.

“Chicken,” he heard her mumble.

“You don’t like chicken?”

She shrugged. “Chicken is chicken. I like it fine. Do you have any other meat?”

“I’m not sure what is in there.”

“Great,” she said as she opened the refrigerator again.

When she didn’t find anything else, she shut the door and turned to the package of chicken. Roderick had really liked the idea of not having to skin an animal. The meat was already skinned and cut for him. Another great idea.

Apparently, Elle didn’t share his opinions.

He had to cover his mouth with his hand to keep from laughing as she picked up a piece of the chicken between her thumb and forefinger, then dropped it like it scalded her. She then proceeded to take a knife and try to cut it, but every time she had to touch it, her body would shiver. Finally, she gave up and turned towards him.

“I hate the feel of raw meat in my hands. Chicken is some of the worst,” she said and shivered again.

Roderick kept his laughter inside as he rose and went to stand beside her. “I’ll cut it. Just tell me how you want it.”

After she showed him what to do, Roderick set about cutting up the chicken as she rummaged around in a small closet that held more food.

When he was finished with the chicken, she gave him another knife and an onion.

“Since you’re so talented at cutting things up,” she said with a bright smile.

Roderick took the knife and onion and chopped it up. He glanced over as she cooked and found he liked helping her, something he had never considered before. He heard her humming a tune under her breath, almost absently, as she worked. She took the chopped onion and put it in the pot and poured some wine over them.

“Want to do something else?” she asked him.

And to his surprise he answered, “Aye.”

“Will you butter the bread?”

And like a servant in his household on Thales, Roderick picked up the brush and began to butter the loaf of bread she had given him.

He wasn’t finished with it when Val walked in and Elle asked him to set the table.

Without blinking, Val grabbed the plates and sat them on the table. Roderick had expected Val to refuse or complain, but he was seeing a side of his friend he had never known.

A short time later, all three stood in the kitchen as Elle cooked.

“What are you cooking?” Val asked.

“A specialty of mine. Usually I cook it without meat, but I figured you boys might want meat.”

“Of course we want meat,” Val said. “How can you eat a meal without meat?” Roderick had been about to ask the same thing.

She laughed. “There are some people that are vegetarians.” “What?” he and Val asked in unison.

“People that don’t eat any kind of meat or fish,” she said as she dumped some long thin things in boiling water. “They won’t even eat eggs because it comes from a chicken.”

“And I thought Rome had problems,” Val said to Roderick.

It wasn’t long after that they were sitting down to eat. Roderick couldn’t remember the last time they had sat at a table with a cooked meal. It had been so long ago it was a distant memory.

Worse, the easy charm of Elle brought back long buried memories of meals with his family on Thales. It was so poignant that, for a moment, Roderick couldn’t breathe.

“Are you all right?”

He looked down at Elle’s small hand on his arm, then raised his eyes to see the concern reflected in her gaze. “I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? If you don’t want this, I can cook something else,” she offered.

“Nay,” he stopped her as she started to rise. “The food looks and smells delicious.”

She stared at him a moment before reaching for the fork and dishing out the food to first Val and then him. As he accepted his plate, he caught Val’s gaze. The Roman watched him quietly, as though he knew what troubled him.

Roderick watched in amusement as Val lifted the food on his fork and smelled it.

“What is it?” Val asked Elle.

“Its one of my favorites dishes that I make,” she said. “It’s chopped chicken in a lemon butter sauce with angel hair pasta.”

Roderick took a bite and loved the light taste of the noodles. “’Tis very good,” he said.

Elle lowered her eyes, and he could almost swear she blushed. He glared at Val, daring the Roman to say anything bad about the food.

He took a bite, then another before the turned to Elle and said, “It is good. I didn’t think I would like it.”

Roderick was nearly done with his food when Elle placed a large bowl on the table.

“I forgot the Caesar salad.”

Val’s eyes lit up. “Ah. Something Roman.”

“Not exactly,” Elle said as she dished some onto each of their plates.

Roderick moved the green stuff with whitish liquid around on his plate. “It looks like leaves.”

She laughed again, the sound magical to his ears. Even her eyes sparkled.

“Its Romaine lettuce. Just try it.”

Roderick took a deep breath, speared the leaf, and put it into his mouth. He was more than surprised to find he liked it. He gave her a nod and motioned for Val to try it.

Reluctantly, Val put a piece of the lettuce in his mouth. “’Tisn’t Roman.” Once the meal was finished, Roderick found that he didn’t wish to leave Elle. He helped pick up the table and turned to find Val doing the same. The Roman constantly surprised him, even after all the years they had known each other.

When the table was clear, Val picked up his halberd. “I’m going to make a round.”

Elle rinsed one of the dishes she had been washing and saw Val leave. “Where is he going?”

“To take a look on the roof.”

She had been pleasantly surprised to find Roderick willing to help her cook and clean. Since he was such a warrior, she figured him to be the barbarian type and not touch anything to do with the kitchen.

With Roderick’s help, the kitchen was cleaned in record time. She wiped her hands dry on a towel and watched him gaze out the windows.

“How long do we have?”

He shrugged without looking at her. “I honestly don’t know. From what we can tell, the Harpies haven’t done any major damage or killings, but that doesn’t mean they won’t start now.”

“Part of me wishes they would,” she said as she walked to stand beside him. “At least then we would know where to find them.”

“Me, as well,” he admitted.

“You’re worried, aren’t you?”

He nodded and turned to her. “We’ve fought many creatures, but only one at a time. Never have there been more than one.”

“Do you think the Harpies were called up separately?”

“I don’t know.” He sighed and glanced out the window. “My gut tells me nay, that it was one summoning, but I cannot know that for sure.”

“And the Fae? Can they not help?”

“Their sight into who is doing this is limited.”

“I don’t understand that. I thought they were all seeing,” she said as she leaned against the window and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Since the Fae once roamed Earth, they are connected in a way a mother and child are. If the connection is severed, they both will die. As soon as the first creature was summoned, the realm of the Fae felt the reverberations from Earth.”

“That’s when they put the Shields together?” He shook his head. “Nay. They went looking for what had occurred and found the creature. Despite their attempts to kill it, they couldn’t. They cannot interfere.”

“That doesn’t make sense to me.”

“It didn’t to me either at first,” he admitted. “For whatever reason, the Fae aren’t telling us why they cannot fight, they just can’t.”

“What happens if they do?”

He looked away from her and took a deep breath. “I asked that same question.

No one answered me, but from what I could tell, when they first attacked, the retribution was horrendous.”

“Doesn’t seem quite fair, does it?”

“Nay, but then again, whoever is sending the blue stones out knows what they are doing.”

“How so?” she asked.

He turned his midnight blue eyes to her. “My thought is that they want to destroy the Fae realm. What better way to do that than to destroy them through Earth, a people that the Fae have guarded and helped since the dawn of time.” She blew out a breath. “I feel like I’m in a bad dream. If what you say is correct, then why not just attack the Fae realm.”

“They are too powerful. The Fae have more powers than you could imagine.”

“Ah,” she said and nodded.

“What I don’t understand is why destroy other realms,” he muttered.

“Whose realm was destroyed?”

“Cole’s. There is nothing left for him to return to. Yours. There are others that are either already destroyed or on the verge.” Elle bit her lip. She couldn’t imagine her world gone, but then again, her real world, the realm she was born in was gone. Because of the creatures.

It must have been something in Roderick’s eyes, but she had a feeling his realm had either been destroyed or was about to be. Since he didn’t wish to talk about it, neither did she.

The door opened and slammed shut behind Val as he stalked toward them.

“Do you smell it?” he asked through gritted teeth.

Elle turned to see Roderick lift his head and close his eyes as he inhaled deeply.

Of a sudden, his eyes flew open.

“They’re here,” he said as he grabbed his weapons.

Adrenaline pumped through Elle as she raced after Roderick as they took the stairs to the roof of the Huntington. As the two men, weapons in each hand, looked around, Elle held onto the doorframe as if it were her anchor to life.

The sky above them churned with dark clouds that rolled in ominously. At least she didn’t think it had something to do with the Harpies since a hurricane was stirring up the waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

Still, she couldn’t dismiss the unease growing in her stomach, a feeling like her life was about to be forever changed … or ended.

“Do you see it?” Val yelled at Roderick.

“Nay,” he yelled back as he walked around the roof as if they weren’t thirty stories up.

She fingered the dagger on her thigh and took a deep breath. No more hiding in the corner for her. She was responsible for the necklace leaving her care, and she would get it back.

“There,” Roderick shouted.

She turned her head and saw the three large figures flying through the air, almost obscured by the dark clouds and night closing in. Even their semi-human cries wouldn’t be heard over the constant din of honking cars and loud music below. It was no wonder they hadn’t shown up in the news. No one looked up anymore.

Elle moved away from the door towards Roderick. “Oh, my God. They’re heading towards the CenterPoint Energy Building.”

“What building?” Val asked.

“It’s a huge black building downtown. Very recognizable with its six story cap on top with a whole cut into it.”

Roderick turned and headed toward the stairway. “Then that’s where we need to be.”

“Wait,” Elle called as she ran after him. “You can’t just walk into the building and take the elevator up to the top. There’s security in that building. Not to mention, it’s after hours. No one will be there.”

Roderick’s dark blue eyes burned into hers. “Trust me.” And despite the warnings in Elle’s head, she did.

Roderick’s heart hammered as they drove their motorcycles toward the tall black glass building. The need for a battle, to redeem himself in his family’s eyes, pounded in his veins.

He followed Elle’s instructions as she shouted in his ear and fearfully clutched his abdomen.

“We can’t do this,” she whispered as she stared up at the building as he shut off the bike in the deserted parking lot.

“Trust me,” he told her again. He rose from the bike and looked around him.

“We cannot climb it.”