Enticed (3 page)

„Never take your eyes off your opponent."

„Exactly." We walked on. He didn"t need to say any more. We both knew, this one was all on me.

When we turned the corner, out into a busier street, he pulled me a little closer, protectively. I loved being tucked in his arms, wrapped in his warmth, and wished we could have our chance to explore what we were to one another.

„We need to get you away from here so I can heal you."

A drunk man dressed in a suit of rags slumped against the wall by the roadside and as we passed, his almost empty bottle fell from his hands, clinking into the gutter and making me look down. I stopped walking. I could feel something. Not the senses, something else. It was … stale. A lingering shadow of something …

I reached down and picked up the bottle to hand to the derelict. But I hadn"t thought it through and as I straightened paid the price with a wicked head-spin followed by the throb of all throbs from my neck right up to my temples.

I shut my eyes briefly and took a slow breath. Lincoln steadied me.

„You dropped this," I said, holding the bottle out to the drifter.

The man looked up.

So many things happened within a split second. First, the effort of reaching out made the man lose balance and his upper half joined his lower half on the ground again. Second, I gasped. Third, Lincoln pushed me behind him and pulled out his dagger in the middle of a busy street.

Then … Onyx burst out laughing.

„
But we all are men, in our own natures frail,

and capable of our flesh: few are angels …"

William Shakespeare

„Final y! I"ve been waiting for you," he hiccupped through a series of wet chesty coughs,

„to come kil me with your little knife!"

He lay back on the ground, arms splayed. „Go ahead! Anywhere you like! Just make it count but not my face." He closed his eyes and laughed again while he started to sing a tuneless ditty, „Final y … final y … final y … they have come for
me
!"

„Oh my God," I said, pul ing up to stand beside Lincoln.

There are a great many things to fear out there, even when you are supernaturally strong and fast, and although the memories of what Onyx had done to me – how he had filleted me thought the back unrepentantly and smiled as he watched life drain from my body – were fresh, there was little doubt that this man was a mere shadow of what had once been a very formidable, frightening enemy.

„What are you doing here?" Lincoln asked, not nearly as steady as usual. I realised he might be remembering his own near-death experience at the hands of Onyx. My hands flinched, instinctively wanting to comfort him, but I stopped myself. It wasn"t cool so show weakness – even less cool to expose someone else"s.

Onyx opened his eyes into slits and wheezed some more. „Christ be damned! You haven"t come to kil me have you?"

„No," I said.

„I suppose you were after that lot down the road. Noisy ones. No finesse." Even through slurred words the sounds of contempt and longing were clear. „I see they had some fun with you, though," he said, looking at the blood dripping from my ear.

„So much fun they"re no longer with us," I sniped defensively. Although I could hardly take the credit.

„Lucky bastards."

„You can stil sense them?" Lincoln asked.

„In a way. Not that I needed to. Would"ve been more subtle if they"d come in with tanks. If you haven"t come to kil me – go away." He snatched the bottle that was stil dangling from my hand and shuffled back to the wall.

I glanced at Lincoln. He looked appalled by the sight and stench of this man. I was sure his reaction was mirrored in my own face. „What are we going to do?" I asked.

„What do you mean? We"re going to get out of here and get you healed. Come one." He motioned for us to move on, yet his eyes didn"t leave Onyx.

„Have you, umm … seen one like this before?" I swayed a little, the pain becoming unbearable. The shock had held it off till now.

„No," he said, hiding his concern with impatience. „You"re losing too much blood."

I shook my head and recoiled. „I know this is going to sound crazy, but I can"t just …

could we at least get him cleaned up a bit?" I held my breath.

Lincoln pulled me a few paces away from where Onyx was in the process of finishing the dregs if what looked like a bottle of bourbon.

„Violet, are you forgetting what he did?" he asked, in a hushed but frantic tone.

„No, I just …"

„This could be some kind of set-up. He said himself he could stil sense them, he"s probably working with them." He shook his head then looked back at Onyx again. „It"s too risky. Especially the state that you"re in."

„We don"t have to take him anywhere private. We"re due to meet with Griffin in a minute.

Maybe we should just take him to Hades with us?"

Before we could talk any more, Onyx pulled himself up to stand, using the wall for balance. He looked over to us and then …
spat
.

We watched as his lougie hit Lincoln"s boot and simultaneously turned back to Onyx who had started swinging the now empty bottle, making it clear that it would be the next thing headed in our direction.

„Filthy Grigori," he slurred.

„Right," Lincoln said, turning to me, „can we
please
go now?"

We left Onyx by the side of the road with his empty bottle and little else.

-

It probably wasn"t the best idea going straight to a club with an open head wound, but we real y were late to meet Griffin and I"d insisted I was okay, much to Lincoln"s distress. Apart from the fact that my ear had suffered a massive trauma and was not up for the thumping bass sounds that go hand-in-hand with any good club, my face, neck and shoulder were also caked in blood. I was glad I couldn"t see the damage.

The bouncer opened the massive swing door that had changed recently from a glossy black finish to an equally polished burnt orange. After a good look up and down, it was promising we were stopping to collect someone, that he let us in.

Griffin was sitting at the bar. He always looked awkward in his uniform of black pants and navy shirts. He was old-fashioned in style, but I was beginning to think that might be the best thing about him. His loyalty was old-fashioned too.

He was talking to a man we both recognised as the owner of Hades. Neither Lincoln nor I had met him before but we were aware of him and that Griffin believed he was more than human. It was obvious that whatever Griffin was saying to him had the owner looking seriously annoyed.

„Should we give them a minute?" I asked Lincoln, as he helped me through the press of party-goers. My head was exploding.

„What? And miss out on the fun?" He gave me a wink. I smiled and my heart fluttered as his eyes stayed on me for that moment longer than „only friends".

Griffin saw us approach and quickly took in the state of me. „Do I need to ask?" He spoke with a fatherly tone that I"d learned not to baulk at. Griffin was technically eight-four and since everything had happened – the way I"d embraced and then faced Onyx and Joel – I"d earned his confidence.

He rolled his eyes when I didn"t respond. „It looks like reinforcements couldn"t arrive soon enough."

I nodded. He wasn"t going to get any argument from me. Two tutors and three students from the Grigori training centre in New York were arriving in two days and I couldn"t be happier. I was going to be able to learn from the experts and have people my own age to train with, something I really needed. I was sure with their help I would be able to get over whatever it was that had been holding me back. Not to mention the other reason their services were required: the Scripture that can decipher the identity of all Grigori, even those who have not yet embraced and are therefore defenceless, was never far from my mind. I would not stand by and watch it fall into the hands of exiles. If they found key to destroying Grigori and gained the upper hand the slaughter would not stop until all humans knelt before them, worshipping them as gods.

„See!" yelled the owner over the music. „This is exactly what I mean. You people can"t treat this place as some kind of drop-in centre. I"m running a business. I don"t want to be involved in this … this … I mean,
Christ
!" He gestured sharply in my direction. „She look"s like roadkil !"

I looked at Lincoln.

„You do look pretty bad." He smiled.

„I"l go to the bathroom and clean up. I"m sorry," I said to the owner.

„Well, shit. Don"t go into the girls" bathroom looking like that." He ground his jaw. „You can come upstairs."

I looked at Griffin and Lincoln suddenly feeling a different type of uncomfortable.

„Yes, yes!" he jumped in, before any of us could say anything. „You can all bloody well come." He stormed off down the long side of the bar and through an unmarked door at the end, sparing us a
Hurry the hell up
glance.

We trudged up the stairs to a short corridor with three doors, Griffin filling us in as we walked. „His name is Dapper. He"s some kind of Seer. I"m stil not clear on the details, but I do know that he can see what we all are. He seems to be able to see auras that surround people. I think he can pretty much identify anything supernatural."

„That"s handy. What"s he playing for?" Lincoln asked.

Griffin clicked his tongue. „Wel , that"s the problem. He"s a bencher with no intention of changing status."

„Could be worse," Lincoln said.

„True."

Lincoln eyed me again. „You holding up?"

„I"m good," I said, my vision blurring.

„She"s lying," Griffin said, without even turning to look at me.

„Hey," I protested. It was bad manners to use our powers against each other unless it was a must.

„Sorry," Griffin said.

„Now look who"s lying," I mumbled.

„Come on!" called Dapper impatiently, standing in an open doorway. He took up most of the space. I struggled to categorise Dapper in his manicured presentation of pants and black shirt, slightly at odds with his rough mannerisms. But the thing really threw me; his belt was diamond-studded.

He led us into his apartment. Hades was elaborately decorated with lashes of rich colour and lots of sparkle so it shouldn"t have surprised me to see the overtly feminine, elegant décor upstairs, but still, I marvelled. Dark wooden floorboards were covered with fluffy cream shag rugs and heavy modern furniture that could only be Italian – being the daughter of an architect meant only one type of magazine on the coffee table at home. I came from a world of interior design. It was immaculate and warm at the same time.

Dapper flicked switches, lighting up the living room and hallway to reveal a narrow walkway lined with books. All hardcover. All old. None that I recognised. He stomped his way down the hall directing me to the bathroom, while Griffin and Lincoln lingered by the doorway arguing in hushed tones. I was about to walk back to them and find out what was going on, but then they both looked at me. Whatever they were disagreeing about, it had something to do with me.

Great.

I turned back towards the bathroom and Dapper.

„Who else lives up here?" I asked, accepting the fresh towel he handed me.

„No one," Dapper said.

„But the other doors?"

„My office and flat."

„No one lives in it?" I thought he wasn"t going to answer as he looked at me like the very unwanted house guest I was, but he did.

„It"s just for the bar staff. Sometimes by the time they finish work it"s too late, or they"re too drunk. I let them use it. It keeps them out of my space."

Lincoln came up behind Dapper and motioned to pass by. „Do you mind?"

„What? You need to go in and hold her hand?"

Lincoln laughed. „No, but I would like to go in and heal her."

Dapper looked at me, then to Lincoln. „Yeah, right," he scoffed, walking away. Lincoln laughed again. I went pink.

I balanced on the edge of the oversized bath feeling nauseous and nervous. The line between what was caused by injury and what we self-inflicted was rapidly blurring. Sharing bathroom space with someone was sacred.

„I"ve never had to heal anything this bad before," he said, sitting beside me. He sounded a little uneasy too.

My eyes tool in my reflection in one of the three full-length mirrors in the king-size bathroom. Dapper was totally vain.

„Oh," I said, looking at my bloodied face and neck. My ear was stil trickling fresh blood and when I twisted to try to examine the back of my neck, which had been pummelled into the gravel, Lincoln stopped me.

„Trust me."

„Oh," I said, again. Then, refusing to look weak, I shrugged it off. „Okay, well … do your thing."

„You know I won"t be able to heal these completely," Lincoln said, looking down at his intertwined hands and twisting his fingers. „Griffin …"

What he didn"t elaborate, I raised my eyebrows. „Griffin what?"

„He suggested that …" he blew out a breath. „He thought it might be best to see if you can

…" but he couldn"t find the words and was starting to look like he might up and bolt."

Then I realised why he was looking so impish.
Oh. My. Days.
I flashed back to the one time I had healed Lincoln. To the way we connected, the feeling of my power working his way from my body into his. How together we healed.

Together – kiss together.

„You want me to …" I danced a finger between us.

„It might help you. When you healed me after Onyx, it seemed like you healed your own injuries at the same time and since your abilities are so much stronger …"

„Yeah," I agreed, forcing nonchalance. „I mean … we should try. I think it might work …"

Actually, I had no idea.

He gave me a pained smile. „I want you to be healed and I think this wil help but I don"t want you to do anything that … Griffin doesn"t understand."