Wrath: The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 2 (41 page)

Tyr drew me into his arms and hugged me so tight I couldn’t move. I could hear Hellion yelling at me, and my astral self even twitched as he shook me, but Tyr never let go. “Madeleine Niteclif,” he whispered into my ear, “do you have any idea how close you came to death tonight?” He held me back at arm’s length and looked me over carefully. I turned to look at Hellion, frantically trying to wake me, and I saw other coven members barge into the room en masse. “They are going to pull you back into your body, so I must be fast. I apologize for the abrupt meeting, but I had to speak to you. Things are progressing quickly with some of the killer’s decisions tonight. You must act fast to stop him or you will lose one of your heart’s own, Maddy.”

“My heart’s… Do you mean Hellion?” I gasped, terrified at the thought. A strange sensation of having my bellybutton tugged at from the inside began, and it was gross. I shuffled around and found the coven standing, hands joined, in a circle around my fallen physical body.

“To say you love only Hellion is a falsehood. A piece of your heart is Bahlin’s, which is why you couldn’t commit to marrying Hellion just yet. You must resolve that piece first for the union to last, Madeleine.”

“Just Maddy, Tyr,” I growled, and he glowered at me.

“Fine. You’re about to be ripped back into consciousness, and it’s disorienting, so I’ll leave you with this. You touched the killer tonight, Maddy. Narrow it down, and fast.”

The tugging on my bellybutton changed to a burning feeling as I was slammed back into my body. I involuntarily arched my back off the floor and gasped for air, my heels digging for purchase. I fell back to the floor and, breathing heavily, demanded, “What the effing hell was that?”

“Maddy!” Hellion fell to his knees, gathered me up in his arms and clutched me to his chest, rocking back and forth. “Odin save me, I didn’t know what happened.”

“Tyr pulled me aside for a little pep talk,” I murmured into his chest. I leaned my head back to find him looking down at me, his eyes entirely black with the power he’d wielded. “Can you not tell when I’m in the astral plane?”

“Normally I can and, on occasion, I may even be able to project myself along with you. But it takes time and concentration, and I’m afraid to say I had neither available to me tonight.” He refused to let go of me, and I snuggled into him. “Thank you, everyone,” Hellion said to the crowd still hanging around. “I think we’re done with emergencies this evening, so feel free to go home and tend to your own lives.” The smile in his voice was clear. “Your allegiance and support are much appreciated.”

“Thanks.” My voice was still muffled by his shirt but it was intelligible. Seriously, he was going to have to let me breathe. I pushed back and found him watching me, even as he addressed the few remaining hangers-on personally as they left the room.

Hellion finally let me up, and I went to the sofa and sank down, holding out a hand to him in a silent offer to join me. He came to me quickly and took a seat, dropping his arm around me and laying his chin on my head. “I’m incredibly sorry,” he whispered, “for everything. I’m going to expand my covenant to promise you I’ll work on humility.”

I thought of all the times he’d held me as I cried for Bahlin, his sticking power through an investigation that made him as uncomfortable as it made me, and his willingness to take a long-term chance on someone who listed “potential to fade to non-existence” as a job hazard, and I forgave him all of it. “The effort would be appreciated, but don’t change for me, Hellion. I’ve fallen in love with the man you are, not the man you might be.”

He tilted me head back and laid his forehead against mine. “I’d like nothing more than to kiss you, to reestablish our connection in a way we both know and understand.”

I rested a hand on his cheek and shifted my lips so they angled over his. He kissed me long and slow, and the tensions of the last twelve hours faded. I pulled away reluctantly, but I knew my window of opportunity here was small. “Tyr told me I’d touched the killer tonight.”

“Touched how?”

“I didn’t have the chance to ask. I just assumed he meant touched-touched, as in ‘laid my hand on’ somehow.” I rubbed my sweaty right palm against my pants unconsciously and shook my head. “I’m sure he meant physically touched. He admonished me to hurry, Hellion, or risk…” I paused, not wanting to admit the last of Tyr’s warning.

“Risk what, love?”

I swallowed hard and closed my eyes before answering. “You or Bahlin.”

“Ah, so the dragon’s a factor then. I suppose that means he’s innocent.”

I pushed away from him and stood, stunned I hadn’t made the connection. Tyr had given me the biggest clue he could, and I’d fumbled it. I was a walking catastrophe. Shaking off the chains of self-punishment, I said, “I suppose he is.”

“I’ll accept that, Maddy. Despite my earlier actions, I do want the right person brought to justice.” He stood and walked to the fireplace and picked up a picture on the mantle that I’d never paid attention to. It was an old, sepia-toned photo, and I wandered over to see what was so intriguing to him about it.

The photo was cracked, obviously having been folded at some point in its long life, and the edges were split, dirty and frayed. The glass frame that currently held and protected it was probably the kindest thing that had been done to the photo since it had been taken.

Hellion traced a finger down the front of the glass, and I saw where his eyes rested, on a woman with pale hair and bright eyes who looked up at the man standing next to her in the group shot with open adoration. Amaly.

“You must miss her,” I said, laying my hand on his back.

“I grieve her like I’ve lost a sister, a blooded member of my family,” he said. I could taste his grief like the bitterest of pills swallowed, and I hurt for him.

He sighed and turned away from the photo. “I sincerely want to catch her killer, Madeleine, and I will be petitioning the Council to allow me to carry out the execution.” His voice was nearly flat, monotone, as if he expected me to fight so he’d taken the fight out of the words as they were spoken.

“Okay.”

He lifted his head and looked at me, and the look on his face said I wouldn’t have shocked him more if I’d asked his butler to be part of a spontaneous ménage. Shivering with the ickiness of that mental image, I stepped even closer to him and met his astonished gaze. “You need this, Hellion. I get that. Just promise me you’ll take precautions and make it a quick kill. No dragging it out in the name of vengeance, whether for Amaly or for pride.”

“My word.” The oath was as filled with emotion as his words moments ago had been devoid of it.

I nodded. That was settled.

Now we had to catch the bastard.

Chapter Twenty-Five

We grabbed a fast four hours of sleep and were sitting down to lunch when Stearns came in. He walked slowly, his narrow shoulders hunched like he was burdened with heavy news. Unfortunately I didn’t realize how right I was.

“Sir, Niteclif.” He looked anywhere but at me. “There’s news.”

Hellion set his napkins down on the table and reached for my hand. “Best get it over with, Stearns. Was it someone we know?”

He shook his head, and I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. “Three women were killed last night, their heads completely severed. London’s in an uproar, sir, and the police are at the door.”

Shit. We’d completely forgotten the police.

“If they see me sitting here, they’re going to assume you’re acting out some passive-aggressive rage issue that you have with me.” I stood and looked quickly around the room. I could go through the kitchen and maybe out the back door—

“Stop, Maddy. I’ve done nothing wrong.” He stood and offered me a hand.

“Now who’s being naïve?” I snapped, fear giving my words a nasty bite. “Haven’t you ever watched
American Justice
?” I shook my head. “Dumb question. I don’t suppose you have. It’s just, well, the police need someone to pin the fears of the commonwealth on, and you’re it.” I tugged at my hand and tried to get free of his grasp, but he wouldn’t let go.

“I’ve made up my mind not to leave you,
mo chroí
, so here’s where I’ll stay.” He turned to Stearns and said, “Show the guarda in, then you and Mark bar the front door in the event something goes wrong.”

Stearns’s eyes rounded and he nodded quickly, backing out of the room and never breaking his wide gaze from Hellion’s calm face.

“Hellion,” I said, warning lacing my voice. “What could go wrong?”

“I’d hate to make a misstep, so I’ll take a simple precaution. Do you wish to stay or go?” he asked, rolling up his sleeves. He glanced over at me, and once again his eyes were a light brown. While his black eyes had creeped me out at first, and made his face feel cold and hostile, now they were just his eyes. Seeing the artificial brown felt entirely wrong.

I looked away and said, “I’ll stay.”

“You’ll be an accomplice, love. Be sure.”

“I want it noted that I think you’re taking this ‘not leaving me’ thing a little far, but it’s fine. I’ll stay. Will there be blood?” I asked, my voice squeaky.

“No,” he chuckled. “No blood. Just loosely harnessed power, and it takes people funny sometimes. Gives me a terrible cockstand.”

The door swung open, and the two inspectors walked into the room with clear intent. They weren’t leaving without Hellion. I backed away, and my movement drew their attention. Neither of them could hide their reaction at finding the perfectly profiled victim in their suspect’s home. I gave them a little finger wave of acknowledgment.

“Have you been harmed, madam?” the taller of the two asked.

“Nope. I’m good.” I scooted further along the wall that was now at my back, intent on getting closer to Hellion.

“Stop there, sweetheart,” he said.

I froze.

I heard one of the men gasp, and I looked up just as the wind of Hellion’s power roared over me in a fiery wash that went straight to the juncture of my thighs. It was like an hour of really good foreplay in an instant. I groaned and found myself anchored to the wall by the invisible bonds of his will. It infuriated me. I tugged and struggled, but the strength of his will alone held me.

The two inspectors were suffering similar fates, and dimly I recalled Hellion saying he couldn’t create something that wasn’t there. Clearly these men had sufficient lusts to be drawn on, but the curious question was to whom were they drawn?

Hellion’s voice seemed to whisper through my head. “
Unam oblvionis, oblivion duo, memoriam tuam accipio ut ad tenebrosam caliginem mentem.”
Oblivion for one, oblivion for two, I take your memories to the dark and make it the mist of the mind.

The power in the room increased, and the chandelier swung in the breeze as napkins and papers blew about. The men stood rooted to the floor, unable to take their eyes off Hellion. I was suffering a similar fate, but there was no question from where my lust generated. One of the officers was rapidly rubbing his erection through his pants, and I watched in fascination as the other seemed to want to fight off the magic that threatened to consume him. Hellion’s voice came again through my mind, repeating the same words with more conviction. With each word he loosed in my subconscious, my consciousness reached for him.

I looked up and was almost frightened of the man he’d morphed into. He felt larger than the simple capacity the room could contain. His power made the air crackle, and it felt like the room itself was trying to conduct lightning with aluminum foil—too much power insufficiently harnessed inside such a little space. This power was elemental and belonged in the wide-open spaces of the cliffs of Ireland, where the power could commune with the sea and the sky. Hellion’s eyes had disappeared, and in their place were hollows of black that appeared to be vacant until you looked closely and realized things moved just beneath the surface of that obsidian gaze, things you dared not look straight at for fear they might see you, recognize you, want you.

Hellion threw out an arm and pointed at the two men. He made a harsh slashing motion with his right arm and said sharply, “
Est perfectus.
”
It is done.

The bonds that had held me to the wall let go, and I slid to the floor on legs as reliable as democracy. I trembled with need and mewled when Hellion’s hand reached for me. I shook my head in denial, terrified at the purely sexual need I felt for him.

The shorter of the two officers looked down and realized he was still rubbing his fading erection, but the stain on the front of his pants said it was post-masturbation kindness he was showing himself. His partner looked over and stared at the man’s groin, and I wondered again what lusts Hellion had raised that this man, wearing a timeworn wedding ring, didn’t want to recognize.

The short officer was flame red in the face and ears when he said, “You’ll have to excuse us. I seem to have had an accident.” His partner didn’t seem so inclined to believe it had been an accident, but he didn’t question it out loud. Instead, they filed out of the room, looking curiously over the chaos of the room. They’d forgotten the wind as much as they’d forgotten the reason they’d been there at all.

The dining room door swung shut behind them, and I launched myself up off the floor, clawing my way up Hellion like he was a mountain to be scaled. “Please, please, please,” I begged between kisses, wrapping my legs around his waist and grinding against him.