Up In Smoke (6 page)

“No, foolish consort. The humanity. Can't you smell the humanity? All that delicious fear and anger and hatred floating in delightful layers upon the air—oh, it takes me back; it truly does. How I have missed the mortal world. Well! There's no time to waste in conversation with you. I have deeds to accomplish and tasks to undertake. I bid you adieu, sweet May.”

Magoth turned and started down the alley toward a busy street.

“That's it? You're leaving? No thank-you for agreeing to be your consort? No explanation of where you're going?”

“Miss me already, darling?” He heaved a faux sigh. “Much as I would like to introduce you to the pleasures that only I can give you, unfortunately that must wait until I have taken care of more pressing business.”

I limped over to him, angry, but aware that I couldn't let that get the better of me. Magoth in the mortal world might effectively have little power, but there was no guarantee that I wouldn't end up back in Abaddon with him before such time as Gabriel and I managed to break my bond to him. I picked my words carefully. “You know full well I am not interested in the least in a carnal relationship with you. But you have been away from the mortal world for almost a century, and I thought you might want to consult me now and again if you find something that confuses you.”

The look he gave me would have been comical if it had its origins in anyone but Magoth. “Sweet May, you are not in the least subtle. I would suggest that you cease trying to be, and simply say what it is you wish to say.” He held up a hand as I was about to protest. “Do not insult either of us by pretending you do not wish to keep tabs on me.”

My lips tightened in a thin line for a moment before I answered, “Fine. But you can't be surprised that I'm worried about you running around the mortal world.”

He shrugged and flicked a minute bit of lint off his arm. “Your dragon no doubt informed you that accessing this world via you strips me of most of my power. You may tell him from me that he is correct . . . and that despite the situation, I will have no difficulty in escaping any surveillance he attempts to use upon me.”

“You can try,” was all I said as I followed him out to the street. He stood looking up and down the road, rubbing his hands with pleasure, his black eyes positively dancing with happiness.

“Magoth—” I said, but before I could complete the warning I intended on giving, I realized just where it was we were. I spun around to gaze in growing horror at the large cream-stone building behind us. “Dear gods—that's Suffrage House.”

“Yes,” he said absently, whipping out a pair of designer sunglasses and positioning them carefully on his face. “I thought it too much of an irony to miss that my first steps into this world should be undertaken from the headquarters of the Otherworld. You do not approve?” He shrugged again. “Adieu, my adorable one. I have no doubt we shall meet again, but until then, think of me often.”

A taxi pulled up as Magoth was speaking, depositing a man on the sidewalk. I didn't pay him much attention as he paid the driver, but just as I was going to unburden myself to Magoth of a few choice thoughts, the man glanced our way, did a double take, and froze for a few seconds on the steps leading up to the building.

I may not win a Nobel Prize for overall intelligence, but I did have a few wits about me. Although my first instinct was to assume the man was simply reacting to my unusual outfit, it didn't take me a second to realize his interest was focused on
me
rather than the few shreds of clothing strapped to my body. I turned to bolt, but Magoth was in my way, causing me to lose a few precious seconds.

“Change your mind about the threesome?” he asked as I slammed into him.

“Mei Ling!”

I ducked under the arm Magoth was reaching toward me, hoping I could get far enough away from the man to slip into the shadow world, but my hope was in vain. Before Magoth had the chance to utter an indignant squawk at the elbow I shoved in his belly in order to get him to move aside, the man leaped on me, throwing me to the ground.

“Mei Ling! You dare show your face here? Dr. Kostich will be very happy to see you. Guards! Guards! I have the thief Mei Ling! I have captured the thief!” the man bellowed as he hauled me to my feet, one arm twisted behind me, the other wrapped around my neck.

Chapter Four

“
Y
ou could help me,” I snarled to Magoth as my captor, most likely a thief taker, dragged me toward the front doors of the building.

Magoth raised one ebony eyebrow in a perfect gesture of disbelief. “And ruin the fun you'll have escaping this latest predicament? I wouldn't think of depriving you of that enjoyment, sweet May.”

I grabbed the hand that had a death grip on my throat, and threw myself to the side, trying to pull the man off balance, but he must have had martial arts training, for he stayed solidly on his own feet as he dragged me step by painful step closer to the entrance of Suffrage House. “I'm going to remember this, Magoth.”

“The memory of our parting will stay forever green in my mind, as well,” he said, deliberately misinterpreting me. “You may wish to watch out,” he added to my attacker. “She bites.”

I was just in the process of twisting my head to try and get a grip on the man's arm, but paused to glare at Magoth, who simply blew me a kiss and sauntered off down the sidewalk.

“You're only making things harder on yourself,” the man grunted as he heaved me up two steps. I bucked as best I could, and tried to twist away from him. I even shadowed for a second, hoping that my apparent disappearance would throw him off guard, but he must have been alerted to the fact that I was a doppelganger. “If you keep this up, we will be forced to subdue you to unconsciousness,” he warned.

“Been there, done that, got the T-shirt,” I growled as I suddenly switched tactics and spun around in his hold, simultaneously bringing my knee up into his groin and smashing my fist into his nose.

He gurgled in pain and reacted with an instinct of self-preservation, clutching both his crotch and his face, leaving me free for a fraction of a second.

I flung myself to the side, racing down three steps, and had just hurdled a low cement barrier wall when something slammed into my back and sent me crashing to the ground a second time.

“This is really getting old,” I muttered to myself as my new unknown assailant jerked both arms behind my back.

“I've got her,” a woman's voice bellowed behind my head. I struggled to get up, but this woman, like the thief taker, knew how to keep me from getting any leverage. “Run inside and fetch the watch.”

The all-too-cheerful voice left me in no doubt as to its owner.

“Sally!” I hissed with outrage, struggling to get free from her. “What do you think you're doing?”

“Shush! Rescuing you. Play along.”

“She's mine!” the thief taker yelled, but there was a thread of pain in his voice that indicated he was still feeling the effects of my escape.

“I'm not trying to take credit for your capture,” Sally said with obvious amusement. “I just happened to see her kick you in your happy place. Go get the watch, why don't you? I can tell by this truly horrible outfit that she's wearing that she'll be too much to handle without lots and lots of help.”

I turned my head to the side, peering as best I could up the stairs. The thief taker stood in the throes of indecision, clearly wanting to be the one to drag me in and at the same time injured enough that Sally made sense.

“Hurry!” Sally urged, releasing my hands just enough that I was able to almost rise. “She'll get away!”

The thief taker didn't wait; he just whirled around and ran up the stairs. Before the door closed all the way on him, I was jerked to my feet, a not-so-gentle shove between my shoulder blades sending me reeling down the stairs.

“You'd better scoot, sugar. It probably won't take him long to rouse help.”

I glanced over my shoulder at the woman behind me, confused by both her actions and the friendly smile on her face. “Why are you helping me?”

“Silly! You're Magoth's consort!”

I hesitated, not buying her sudden turn of heart.

She shoved me again, and this time I moved. She followed on my heels, saying, “Plus, they're the good guys, and I can't stand to see them win.”

That, at least, made sense. I dashed down the sidewalk, spinning around the corner to the alley in which Magoth had chosen to enter the mortal world.

Shouts behind us warned that the thief taker had returned to find me missing.

“Run! They're right behind us!” Sally said, following as I dodged garbage bins, emerging on the far side only to dash into another alley.

We raced away through the streets of Paris, using every skill I possessed to avoid leaving a trail that could be easily followed. We ran up fire escapes and through buildings, and took shortcuts through yards and tiny Parisian gardens, until it seemed like my legs were ground down to nothing and my lungs were about to burst.

“I think we've lost them,” Sally said after what I could have sworn were eons of running. We collapsed against the entrance of a seedy building. “I just hope you're going to mention this on my evaluation sheet. It should get me beaucoup extra credit.”

“Consider yourself credited,” I answered, standing up straight in an attempt to ease a stitch in my side. “Where are you going now that Magoth is in this world?”

She straightened up as well, tidying herself via a reflection in a dirty window. “I have another two weeks with you all, so I'll just run him to earth. See you later, sugar.”

“But—”

Sally was off before I had a chance to question her more. I watched for a moment as she quickly blended into the lengthening afternoon shadows before I did the same into the slightly different version of reality that was known as the shadow world. I knew of only one safe house in Paris, and it was there that I headed.

“Hello. I'm May Northcott. Is Gabriel here, by any chance?” I asked some forty minutes later as the door before me opened.

The woman who answered the door blinked green eyes a couple of times, then smiled and stepped back, gesturing me into the house. “Welcome back, May. Drake and Gabriel just returned. You'll find them—”

A door leading into the hall burst open. I didn't stop to thank Suzanne, the green dragon who had let me into Drake's Paris house. I just ran for the man who emerged, flinging myself on him with a shameless whimper of joy. “Gabriel,” I whispered into his mouth as I tried my best to kiss the breath right out of his lungs.

“Widdel werd,” he answered, kissing me in return with such vigorousness that his words were incoherent. He wrapped both arms around me and hoisted me up so our mouths were at the same level. I dug my fingers through the soft, shoulder-length dreadlocks, tugging wordlessly on his hair until he gave me what I wanted. Dragon fire, as hot and potent as his mouth, swirled around us in a dance of light and shadow. The taste of him, the feel of him pressed hard against my body, and his heady scent sinking deep into my being triggered something deep within me that had been locked away the last six weeks.

“Mate,” he groaned when the need for air forced our mouths apart.

“You don't know how I've needed that,” I said, my tongue running around my mouth, savoring the taste of him. Gabriel always tasted like he had been eating something with cloves in it, partly spicy, partly sweet, and wholly addicting. “And I have so much to tell you. Sally, the candidate for demon lord, actually helped me earlier.”

“Later,” he said, his face twisting as if he was in pain.

“Are you all right?” I asked, stepping back to see if he had acquired any wounds while making his way out of Abaddon. “Did Magoth's demons do something to hurt you?”

“No. I need you, Mayling.”

I smiled and brushed my lips against his. “I missed you, too. So much has happened since you had me summoned. This outfit for one, and that show Magoth insisted I put on. I want you to know that I had nothing to do—”

“You don't understand,” he said, his voice, normally as smooth as silk sliding over satin, tinged with a roughness that seemed to thrum in deep, hidden parts of me. “I
need
you, May. Now.”

The look of pain on his face was growing, reminding me of a similar expression he'd worn a couple of months before. I couldn't help but smile as I rubbed my hips against his. “Oh. That kind of need.”

He groaned again and allowed me to slide down his body. “You're tormenting me.”

“Just a little. Not too much, because I'd be happy to participate in the activities I know you have in mind—”

That's all the agreement it took. Without another word, he scooped me up and started toward the stairs leading to the upper floors.

I glanced over his shoulder to see the tall figure of a dark-haired, green-eyed man. “Hello, Drake. How's Aisling doing?”

Drake made a smooth bow that was almost as good as the kind Gabriel made. “Good afternoon, May. Aisling is resting at the moment. I'll tell her you were asking after her.”

“Thank you. I'm looking forward to talking with her again.” I glanced at the hard lines of Gabriel's face. “Later.”

“Much later.” Drake's voice followed us as Gabriel turned left at the top of the stairs and strode toward a room we had occupied earlier. I could swear there was laughter in Drake's voice, but there was no sign of a smile before he disappeared from sight.

“Wait a moment,” I said when Gabriel kicked the bedroom door closed behind us. I was still in his arms as he moved over next to the bed. “I know you wyverns have some need to be physically with your mates when they've been taken from you, and
you
know that I'm happy to indulge your need for incredibly steamy, unbridled lovemaking. But since we also both know that such an event makes me lose what few wits I have, maybe we could have a quick conversation to catch up before things get out of hand?”