Arryn: Mystic Protectors Series (3 page)

“And you should.” He nodded. “She’s here. You were told that she’s here. Did you meet her yet?”

“No.” He looked away and she knew that he was hurting. “There won’t be much time for us. I don’t want to hurt any more, Kala. I have suffered enough.”

Kala wanted to feel sorry for him, but the more she lay there thinking of what he’d just said, the more pissed she became. So she did what she wanted and slapped him in the back of the head.

“What is wrong with you? You don’t want to suffer? Well, poor Arryn the Whiney-Ass is going to be suffering; let us stop the presses and print him a get well card. We just can’t have you suffer, now can we?” He started to speak again but she cut him off. “Oh, no you don’t. You don’t get to sit here and tell me how you’re the one that is going to lose out. How your one true love is going to leave you soon after you’ve found her because of something that she had no control over. Poor, poor you. You mother fucking dick head.”

“Why are you mad at me?” He stood up then, and Kala was vaguely aware that everyone in the room was awake and staring at them. “You have no idea what it’s like to have someone you’ve come to love die. Life after life, century after century.”

“No, I don’t, thank goodness. But you will never know the love of someone that was meant for you. No, you’d rather sit here and bemoan the fact that you’re going to be hurt when she dies. When she’s taken to hell, I mean. Do you suppose the demon that has her…do you think he’ll care that she’s young and never been loved?” He said nothing but she didn’t care. “What do you suppose is going to happen to her once she’s there, Arryn? Do you think she’ll get to have a nice room of her own? That she’ll be treated with the utmost respect and care? Or do you think she’ll be raped daily, if not hourly? Used as a sex slave while others—men who don’t care one fig about her while they do it—watch her suffer. But you just can’t think of that. Your suffering will be so much worse, won’t it? What will you do? Pout in your room with the controlled temperatures and lovely views, while someone fixes you meals and comes by and talks to you on occasion to see if you’re still suffering?”

“You’re not being fair. This was not of my making.” Kala stood up and stared at Arryn when he spoke again. “You are looking at this as if I have any control over it. I would be forced into this in much the same way that you and Riss were forced into what you have.”

The slap she gave him startled her as much as it did him, Kala thought. But when he put his hand on his cheek all she could think about was this woman. Instead of telling him what a fool he was, Kala got back into the bed.

“Go away, Arryn. Don’t come back here for a while. I’m not sure…I just don’t want to see you right now.” Rolling to her side and with her back to him, she wiped at the tears. “And stay away from Renie, too. I’m not doing this so you’ll go to her, but I genuinely want you to stay the hell away from her. She doesn’t need an asshole like you during her last days on this earth.”

She knew that he’d left her, but she no longer cared. He’d hurt her as surely as he’d stabbed her in the heart. To have brought up what she and Riss had as if it were a terrible thing…. When arms slid around her from behind, Kala let Riss hold her as she lay there crying. This was supposed to be a great day for them all, and now it was ruined.

Kala woke some time later. The room was brighter so she knew that she’d been asleep for a while. Riss was the only one in the room with her, and he was holding a blue bundle in his arms. Sitting up, she looked around the bed and noticed that there were three more little blue bundles laying on the bed with her. Picking one up, she smiled down at his lovely face. The shifting of the bed had her looking at Riss when he sat down beside her.

“You did a wonderful job bringing them into the world. And they are simply perfect. I was thinking that we should have Boss model every child after these four. What do you think?” Kala laughed at him and he smiled. “You’re much more beautiful now than when I first met you.”

“I love you too.” They took the blankets off their sons and looked them over. Kala was thrilled to see that they each had all their toes and fingers, as well as the most amazingly tiny hands and feet that went with them. Their tiny little mouths were puckered up just so, and she wanted to kiss them all over their small bodies. When she touched her fingers to the first little nose, it crinkled up just as hers did.

“They have been asking after their names. Do we know which will be which?” Nodding, she looked at Riss, the man that made this all possible for her. “You look very teary. Is it the hormones again? Shall I get you some tea? It calms you like nothing else will.”

“No. I’m fine. I was thinking of the way that I treated Arryn. I shouldn’t have said those things to him.” Riss sat up and pulled her and the baby that she held into his arms. “You’re very sweet to hold me like this. Unless it’s to keep me from hurting you when you tell me what a fool I was.”

“I think you did what was correct. He needed to be told that he was…I think you called him a whiney-ass baby. No, that was not it, you called him Arryn the Whiney-Ass. Quite good, by the way. I thought perhaps that Boss was going to hurt Himself; He was trying His best not to laugh.” Kala smiled, thinking of the big man trying not to laugh. She might have hurt Him and He knew it. “Arryn has gone to his world now. I don’t believe he will be back for some time. You have shamed him well.”

Nodding, she let Riss hold her until the babies stared to fuss. She had decided to breast feed them as best she could, but four of them was going to be too much. So while she fed two of them, Riss would have help feeding the other two. She talked to him while trying to figure out how to make it work.

“I was so pissed at him. He had no right to talk about his own pain when she was going to have so much more.” Riss said nothing as he tried to get the baby to take the bottle. As soon as the babies at her breasts latched onto her nipples, she knew that she could do this. She also knew that she’d need help, but she wasn’t going to fail these little men of hers.

“He will come around. Hopefully not too late. She does not have much…how did you get them to take to that so readily?” Kala told him she just squirted a little into their mouth and they wanted more. “I shall do that. As for Arryn, he will be all right. A little less whiney assed, I think, but he will come around.”

It took them over two hours to get the babies fed and then changed. She knew that in a little while she was going to have to start over, but for now they were filled up and dry. The nurse that they’d hired came in to see if they needed anything, and a large tray of food was sent up for her and Riss. Boss came by later to ask them if they were all right and to hold one of the children. Kala fell asleep again and never heard Him leave.

Chapter 3

The computer printout was not matching up to what was in the bank. Renie knew that was why she’d been asked to go over it, but it wasn’t the accounting program that was messing it up…it was something else, something that the bank was doing. Or someone at the bank. When the pounding at the door nearly brought her up out of the chair, she glared at the door trying to get her heart back to normal speed. Whoever was on the other side had better have a damned good reason for scaring the shit out of her. But before she opened the door, she paused in front of it to feel the person on the other side.

She could feel his sorrow even before she looked to see who it was. When he pounded on the door again, she backed away from it to hide…not from him, but from his pain. Whatever had hurt him, she wanted no part of.

“I know that you’re in there. They told me downstairs that you never leave this room.” She backed all the way to the work table she’d been using. “I could come through the door and simply talk to you, but I would rather you let me in. Please. I will not harm you.”

“You’ve no business with me.” His pain was replaced with anger, and she felt her own shields come up when he reached out to her mind. “You want to hurt yourself, then by all means try to figure out what makes me tick. But you’ll hurt more for your troubles than anything you might find out.”

“Boss sent me. And if you don’t know who He is, He’s the man that bargained for your help at your hearing. He sent me here. Sort of.” Renie didn’t move but knew who he was talking about…the big man who had looked as if He’d had His heart ripped out. “May I please come in and talk to you? Judith and Dusty are ready to murder me. Not that they can, but they will harm me.”

Renie went to the door and took off the chain. There wasn’t a lock on it, but the chain had stopped most of the unwanted guests from just coming in. Even after telling them repeatedly that she liked to be alone, they still came by in droves. The man standing there looked like he could take them all on and have them for breakfast. When he looked at her, she felt as if she’d been turned inside out.

“What do you want?” She stood in front of the doorway to bar him from coming in, but he was either dense or didn’t care what anyone wanted as long as it was his way. Barging in, he stomped into the room as if he owned it. Renie stood in the doorway and tried to think what to do with him. “I didn’t say you could come in. In fact, I would rather that you didn’t. I’m busy.”

“You’ve been up here for three days. And nights. What could you possibly be doing that requires you to stay indoors?” Renie crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “You’re very tiny, aren’t you? I don’t know why, but I expected you to be tall, like Kala. You’re not much more than five ten or so.”

“To most that would be more than tall enough. Not that it matters what you think about my height, but you’re very tall. Perhaps that’s why you think I’m so short.” He nodded and she waited. She was very good at waiting people out. They usually tired of her not speaking to them, but she had a feeling this guy was very good at it too.

“I’d like to take you to dinner. There is a nice place just down the street that has a very good steak dinner that—”

“No.” He looked confused, and she put her hand on the still open door and opened it wider. “Now if you don’t mind, I have work to do. And in the event that no one has told you, I’m sort of on a timeframe here.”

“Why?” She asked him what he meant. “Why are you going to just let him take you? Can’t you think of anything to do to get him to change his mind?”

“I’m not sure I want to. And so you know, I’m pretty sure that when one makes a deal with the devil, he expects you to pay up.” He shook his head. “Do you have some firsthand knowledge that others don’t about him?”

“Sort of. But the deal wasn’t made with the devil. He wouldn’t have cared if you were a babe or not. Had he wanted you, he would have taken you. But not without your consent.” Something in what he said triggered a memory, but it was gone before she could catch it. “It was made with a demon, not the devil. Do you know his name?”

“Hum, the last time he and I talked he told me. Now what was it…?” She looked up at him when he huffed. “What the hell do you care for? And how the hell would I know his name, even if I cared what it was?”

“I was only trying to help you.” Renie nodded to the door again. “I can’t leave you. I have to…it’s my duty as your true love to stay here to give you comfort when you die.”

Renie let his words soak in. There was no way he’d just said that to her, but the longer he stood there staring at her, the more she realized that he had indeed. It was his duty? To stay with her?

“I see. And this duty of yours, does it by chance include us having sex? Lots of it?” She saw him stiffen just before he told her he would if she wished. “Good. And this sex—because I want to make sure that we’re on the same page—will this sex be beneficial to us both, or are you a fuck’em and leave them sort of man?”

“I’ve never had sex before. I think you should explain what you mean.” What she wanted to do was pick up the nearest sharp thing and stab him in the eye with it. “You seem to be getting angry rather than sexually aroused. Is there something I can do to help you? I don’t know what I can do, but I have seen others have sex and I could mimic them.”

“Yes. You can get the hell out of here.” The man started to speak but she cut him off. “You arrogant mother fucking prick. What gives you the right to come in here and tell me about your duty to me? And that you’re to stay with me, like it is some kind of chore that you’d rather not do but are being forced into? Is that it? Someone is forcing you to come here?”

“She has guilted me into this. I don’t think that it was her intention, but that is what I feel. She’s very upset with me. And I love Kala like a sister, and it pains me when I have disappointed her in some way. I would like to make it up to her by doing what she thinks is best for you. She will be happy that you’re not alone in your time of need, and I will not be in her bad graces.” Renie told him to get out. “But we have not settled on anything. I should like to—”

“If you do not get out of here right this fucking minute I’m going to scream. And when I scream, strange and very violent things begin to happen. The last time I brought a building down on a few people. I’m pretty sure that as pissed as I am right now, I could easily bring down a city block.” He stood there as if he wasn’t going to go anywhere. Renie closed her eyes and reached out to him.

When he cried out she knew that she had hurt him. But right now hurting him was much better than what she really wanted to do to him. Willing him to the street beyond, she realized that she should have looked to see if there was any oncoming traffic when a car’s tires screamed.
Serves him right if a car hit him
. But she went to check to make sure that he’d not been killed.

After he moved along the street, never looking up at the window where she was, Renie went to the kitchen and stared into the refrigerator. A woman clearing her throat had her putting up her hands in defense.

“I’m Lily. I have brought you something to drink.” Renie could smell the sugar from where she was. Taking the tall glass, Renie drank it down and watched as it refilled itself without a pitcher. Drinking the second glass down, she stared at the woman.

“Thank you. Nice trick.” Lily told her that she’d only brought the first glass, that Renie had filled it again. “I didn’t know that I could do that, but I guess there is all kinds of shit going on that I don’t know about. Like who are you, and what the fuck are you doing here?”

“Lily Anderson. I’m like the others. I know that you’ve not been introduced to us yet, but I’m here to show you. Boss thought it a good idea since your magic is coming on stronger now. Is it because of Arryn?” Renie told her she didn’t know him. “The man that you sent to the streets. Very good job at that, by the way. I would have blasted him to the next realm. I’ve never known him to be so rude before.”

“He wouldn’t leave.” Lily nodded. “You’re not going to hang around now, are you? I have things to get done.”

“You do. But I do want to explain what we are. Do you know what a protector is?” Renie shook her head and sat down on the lovely couch that had been with the living room. Lily sat opposite her. “We are a group of beings—immortal beings—that watch over humans from their first breath until their last. Then when that time comes, we take them to their destination, where they will stay forever.”

“So you think you’re an angel.” Lily told her no, they were entirely different than her. “I’m sorry, but you’re not really making any sense. Not that I really care, but you really should have a better story if you’re going to tell one. Like mine. I’m going to be the playmate to a demon. Tonight I found out that it’s not the devil himself, but I guess one of his lesser beings. And in being so, he will come for me when I turn twenty-five. Not long now.”

“You readily believe in devils and demons and not angels?” Renie said nothing. “I have heard that you were lost to us. That your mother sold you to him and we did not find out until recently.”

“Same here. And not that you’d understand, but I’d prefer that you didn’t refer to Penny Sharp as my mother. She’s the woman who brought me into this world, and because she thought that living forever was preferable to having me, she sold me for immortality. So she’s going to be the one to take me out, too. Nice, huh?”

“I’m sorry.” Renie waved her off. “I do have to tell you some things. And it will go easier if you believe me.”

“Why? And that man, who was he besides some lunatic that thinks I should let him fuck me?” Lily said his name again and smiled. “And this Arryn person, he’s sane? Like you?”

“I’m very sane, Reyna Lynn Sharp.” Renie thought that there was a saying that everyone thought they were sane when in actuality they were not. “I would like to show you something.”

When Lily stood up, Renie sat up straighter in her seat. She had no idea why this woman, of all the people she knew, had her trusting in what she said, but there was something very innocent about her. She was off her rocker, of course, but she trusted her. But when wings sprung out from behind her, spreading as wide as her couch, Renie stood up.

“Mother fuck.” Lily didn’t move when Renie walked toward her. As she stood there watching her, the snowy white wings moved and Lily was lifted from the floor. Renie started to reach out to touch the beautiful display, but pulled her hand back when it began to burn. “I’m not supposed to touch you.”

“You may.” Renie shook her head and looked down at her hand. There were blisters on it, and she tried to hide it from her when Lily grabbed her hand and held it out. “This is not to happen. You should not burn when one of us is…did this happen when Arryn was near you?”

“He wasn’t. Near me, I mean. Do you think you could let go now? I’m on fire.” Her fingers were actually burning, with small flames coming from them. As soon as Lily let her go, the fire went out but the pain was still there. Renie fell to her knees. “I’m going to be sick.”

Before she could make her way to the bathroom several armed men were in her apartment…not armed with guns, but swords and in armor of such beauty that she nearly stopped to stare at it. Ignoring them was nearly impossible when she had to dodge them to get to where she needed to be. Just as she got the door shut behind her to the bathroom, she puked. On her knees now, Renie emptied her belly five times before she felt as if she might not die right now.

A soft cloth was put on her forehead as Renie leaned on the now closed toilet. Not even bothering to look up, she thanked the person. When Arryn spoke she didn’t even have the strength to tell him to get the hell away from her. She was spent.

“I am sorry that I hurt you.” Renie didn’t say anything. She really was that weak that she wanted him gone but did not have the energy to tell him to get out. “I should like to see if my touching you will burn you as well. I’ll not hold you, only touch my finger to your flesh.”

“Have all the fun you want. I don’t have the strength to fight you right now.” His fingers on her arm felt cool to the touch. When he wrapped his hand around her she moaned at how good it felt, and nearly sobbed when he pulled away. But he picked her up then and sat her on the counter. “I’d like to go to bed now. Why don’t you come back tomorrow and you can insult me some more? Right now I’m not into it.”

He didn’t say anything but she felt herself being picked up again. When things moved by her quickly, Renie closed her eyes. It was making her sick again. Then the coolness of her bed was under her and she moaned again. Renie felt a cover being pulled over her and then she let sleep take her.

~~~

Arryn didn’t want to leave her, but he needed to tell the others that he was staying with her. Even if he had to stay with her while she couldn’t see him, he wasn’t leaving her. He’d not only hurt her earlier, but he had been shamefully cruel to her. Boss and Michael were the other two in the room when he came out of her bedroom.

“Did you heal her?” Arryn expected Michael to be upset with him when he told him he had. “Good. She was in a great deal of pain, and Lily felt as if she might not heal quickly from the burns. You did not harm her, I take it?”

“I asked her permission to touch her before I did, and when it didn’t blister her, I picked her up. She doesn’t weight much, does she?” Boss shook his head when he and Michael looked at Him. “I’ve done her a great disservice. I should like to make it up to her.”