rogue shifter 05 - caught between (20 page)

But then his words sunk in and my eyes widened with shock. "Me? And Bridgett?"

"Yes, and others with the blood of two worlds. You and your sister can live and move between both plains. You need only to be trained to hone in on an exact location."

"You can teach me to..."

"Yes, I can if I so desire. You wouldn't need a circle or a spell to visit us in
scaly demon land
." He teased again." However, without training, you might land in the lap of an enemy."

The thought horrified me."And Charlie? He'll be able to cross between my world and yours?"

"Your son will be the first to flow freely between the
three
realms without invitation nor summons. The—very—first."

I flattened my mouth. "But I can travel to Faerie without any fae blood in my veins."

"Because you have been made an ally by the elders. A friend of Cascade. You could not travel to the fae court." I nodded, finally understanding. "Because of this skill, Charles will be constantly sought after, becoming a pawn in a much larger game."

"Garrett and I won't allow that to happen. Neither will Lord Caelen."

He laughed heartily. "Lord Caelen is indeed a major player, but you and your mate will have little effect on the outcome. Charlie is currently on the fae side of the board but he's still in your womb. Think of all the maneuverings that will go on after he's born. And the question remains, where will he plant his feet and grow roots? Where will his loyalties lie? With the purple Queen or the orange Archdemon?"

"Not in your realm."

"You seem so certain. Your grandmother might disagree."

"I'm positive. But you're forgetting, there's another world. Mine and Garrett's. Here there's freedom and friendship and family. This is where he'll always belong."

"Your world is the mortar between the two bricks, easily flattened by either side."

I scowled. "Maybe we're the icing in the Oreo cookie. The most delicious part."

"The first eaten." he winked.

Okay, that wasn't a great analogy, but Isaiah was smiling now. He put his hands behind his head and leaned back against the wall of the house, looking perfectly human, which was creepy on so many levels.

I decided to resume my questioning. "So you think that another demon was summoned to Crescent City to take shifter blood for an unknown spell?"

"It seems likely, but I do not know for certain."

"Has it happened yet? The thinning of the veil?"

"No."

"When?"

"I don't know. Truly. To bring an army across the veil would require much more than the blood of two shifters. This spell will be something simple, yet important."

We sat quietly for a few moments, both of us lost in our own thoughts. I watched him out of the corner of my eye. "Why are you really here, Isaiah?" I'd decided I'd keep asking this question until I got a truthful answer.

The young man with the mousy brown hair, brown eyes and average build turned to look at me with an expression that was nothing short of terrifying. "To fulfill your bargain," he stared at me intently for several seconds longer, then let go of his anger and turned away. "Also because of a promise made to another."

This time he'd spoken the truth. "A promise to Grandmother?"

"No." There was the tiniest hint of scorn in his answer.

"You don't like her?"

"We have had differences of opinion in the past, but the Bassilissa Naberia is
Dingir
to me." I raised my eyebrows. "A god, obeyed without question and loved above one's own life."

His eyes had slowly begun to flame with orange, a sign of his very strong emotions. I was betting on a tightly controlled rage. "You don't necessarily choose to worship at that altar, do you?"

His grin was suddenly huge, causing me to lean away from him in surprise. "Such a smart-ass, little demon. You make me proud of our blood connection."

I decided to plunge straight into the depths of my suspicions before I lost my nerve. "Are you planning to move against her soon?"

It was his turn to look shocked. "Disloyalty to the Bassilissa ends in true death only if you are lucky. She is powerful enough to keep me alive throughout centuries of torture, and I value my skin too much to watch it flayed from my body over and over for all eternity." He leaned much closer and whispered, "One should never rush pleasure. 
La vengeance se mange très-bien froide."
He touched his birthmark and disappeared into the lines, probably feeling he'd answered enough of my questions.

So what the heck did
that
mean?

I grabbed a hooded sweatshirt from the hall closet, told Liam where I was going, called to Samson, and then took us both through the ley lines to a remote Crescent City beach. It was deserted because of the day's chilly temperatures and steady winds, so I pulled the sweatshirt on and stuffed my hands in the front pocket. I needed to sort through a lot of information and I found it hard to concentrate around the house at times. We walked along the shoreline, my hood pulled up to keep my ears warm, and went over my entire conversation with Isaiah.

A person with some demon blood had killed two shifters so that someone else could work a spell, possibly to move between the DR and our world. I spent the first few minutes of my walk worrying over what could be coming through the veil, when it would happen and mainly, what it wanted when it got here. After deciding that there was nothing I could do about any of it, I chose to think about things brought up in the conversation that I had some power over.

A real shocker was that with some training, I'd be able to travel to the Demon Realm. Just like I could hop the ley lines into Faerie because I'd been given ally status by the elders, I could take the lines into the DR. I could ask Isaiah to teach me this skill, and then, well, then maybe I could explore my full demonic potential. I might one day be as powerful as a young fae.

But at what cost? I shuddered and let the idea float away on the late afternoon breeze. Nope, not for me. I had my feet firmly planted on shifter soil, my heart forever entwined with Garrett's and my loyalties blended with my shifter/vamp/were/fae friends and family. I might have demon blood, but it was definitely diluted by my stronger cheetah hemoglobin.

However, Charlie was in real danger. Isaiah had said he'd be used by both sides, a tiny player in their supernatural game. How could I protect him? Should I really dismiss the only chance I might have to gain more power if agreeing meant that I could better protect my son and my mate? I rubbed a spot between my eyes, the stress making my head hurt.

The clouds must have cleared away because I was suddenly standing in the sunshine. The wind was still blowing strongly but it was now refreshing and no longer made me shiver. I yanked down the hood and enjoyed the rare burst of warmth on my face.

There was a large boulder up ahead with a young man sitting at the very top staring out into the ocean, possibly as lost in his own thoughts as I'd been in mine. He was dressed in loose black pants, the kind you'd wear at a martial arts class, and a loose fitting peasant-style shirt. His very dark hair was tied back with a leather strap, the long tail hanging down to his waist. His feet were bare and he seemed to wear no weapons, but his toned muscles were evident when the wind pressed his shirt against his chest and arms.

Samson ran down the beach toward the stranger and then stopped and sat at the foot of the boulder, looking back over his shoulder, as if expecting me to hurry up. He didn't bark. He always barked at strangers. Maybe he knew this male from his time with Carly.

As I lumbered through the sand, I speculated as to whether or not the young man might be fae because he had the feel of a warrior about him. However, his profile was rounder, softer, unlike the usual sharper bone structure of the fae males I was familiar with. Plus he didn't seem to be all that tall, although it was hard to tell with him seated.

Because he was a stranger, I reinforced my walls, then curiously reached out with my magic. I couldn't sense his aura, even though I tried in several different ways. His heart was beating at the same rate as my own, so he wasn't a vampire or a shade. Perhaps he could mask his aura. If so, he was at least as powerful as a young fae or demon.

I ground to a halt in the warmer sand at the base of the boulder. I'd gotten close enough now to see his face, and my god, his face was beautiful; his expression alight with joy and bathed in a serenity I'd never achieve even if I journeyed to Tibet and spoke to the Dalai Lama himself.

He didn't turn toward me as I stood there staring, probably hoping that I'd just walk around the rock and continue on my way. Instead, I slowly turned my body to look out over the ocean toward the horizon, interested to see what made his face light up with such unbridled joy.

The view was spectacular in this slightly sheltered spot on the deserted beach. The angry ocean, churned up from an approaching storm, went on and on forever until it met the sky, which was decorated this evening with multi-colored strips of cloud as sunset approached. Standing here, I could understand the fear and excitement of early explorers as they looked at the unending horizon, and I admired their courage in those early days. Without the knowledge of today's science, a sea captain might believe he'd be crushed between the sea and sky, or fall off the edge into a never-ending abyss.

Today I could so relate to that fear. Crushed by Faerie or the Demon Realm, didn't sound any less terrifying. Isaiah had said we were the mortar between two bricks, easily flattened. How could I keep my tiny baby safe from being swallowed by war?

I heard the young man sigh and then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw him turn in my direction. I looked up and smiled at him in a friendly way, one nature-lover to another. He smiled back instantly, his gaze moving automatically to my enormous belly. His large, lovely eyes were dark blue, sparkling with streaks of bright green. As spectacular as they were, I was a tiny bit disappointed, because for some reason I'd wanted him to be fae and he obviously wasn't. What he was, I couldn't say.

Still, I smiled at him shyly, in awe of this male and his breathtaking beauty. I broke the ice, feeling a need to explain my intrusion. "My son and I enjoy walking on the beach. It's peaceful, even with the wind howling." I rubbed my belly so he'd understand.

"Peace is not always as you might imagine." His voice was rich and deep and I wanted to crawl up onto the boulder beside him just to hear his voice more clearly. He spoke without any discernible accent, and every word sounded like it was created brand new in his mind and spoken for only my ears to hear, an intimate language of our own.

"It beats the alternative. War." I whispered with a shrug, then felt embarrassed by my silly response and the crude sound of my voice next to his perfect one.

"A war fought with passion for a true cause, even if the result is death, gives one's life significance."

I shook my head and touched my belly. "Most males probably feel that way."

"But you, a female, do not?" He arched a curious eyebrow and met my eyes. Suddenly I was floating in the blue and green ocean of his soulful gaze and had no desire to ever touch land again. "Ah—you
cannot
." He nodded and smiled, the perfection of his mouth drawing me closer to the rock.

I forced myself to respond."A life is significant because of the choices we make in the daily living of it. Not in the manner of death."

He looked so pleased by my answer. This time my knees trembled. "You
instruct
me with wisdom. I have been away, and have—forgotten."

"Forgotten?"

He looked back toward the horizon. "So many words and delicious sensations. The taste of the sea air. The smell of a beautiful woman." He winked at me and then gestured toward my belly. "The promise of a newborn soul. How lovely the world can be. And how terrible."

"Why did you decide to return to Crescent City?" I wondered if he was some foreign traveler who'd been away studying in some out of the way country.

He sighed loudly again, stretching his arms over his head as if he'd just woken up from a long night's sleep and his body was still stiff. "I am needed. Come stand there, young mother. I wish to look at you."

One step, two steps. The boulder was only an arm length away so I continued forward. When I finally reached it, my fingertips running along the rough surface, he began to laugh at me.

Instantly, I understood that he'd easily gotten past my shields and used glamour to force me to move closer. My eyes widened with fear. The last person who'd glamoured me had been Kennet. The gut-clenching fear disappeared with the music of his laughter, a sound that could call down the archangels from heaven to play music at his feet.

His long ponytail was blowing in the breeze, moving closer to me with each gust. It looked like the softest velvet, the smoothest satin. Each strand shone as if angels wings had been gathered and woven together to make this perfect blanket of hair. Just one touch would give me more pleasure than a lifetime of Garrett's kisses. I reached for it with my fingertips.

A teasing whisper traveled through my mind, warming my entire body.
"Shield yourself from beauty, lovely one, because it can hide the worst corruption."
I wanted so much for him to talk inside my head for longer, but with his urging and help I obeyed and built my demon and shifter-powered wall into an impenetrable fortress. When his mental touch disappeared, I felt empty. I was alone and bereft and began to weep.

With a finger on my chin, he raised my face, smiling at me again, and suddenly the world was perfect. At some point he'd gotten off the boulder and was standing beside me. He tasted one of my tears by scooping it up with a finger and placing that finger in his mouth. He grinned, then wiped away the rest with his sleeve. He was Garrett's height, short for a fae, if that's what he was, but his aura was hidden from me so I couldn't know. He smelled of the salty sea, sunlight, lush forests and mountain streams. The combination, ambrosia, the nectar of the gods.