* * *
“So she’s after me now,” Vallon said, but the huge SUV’s engine roar almost smothered her words as Xavier guided it down the on-ramp onto I-5 North. He drove silently, skillfully, as Vallon suspected he did everything. There was something about the way the man moved that suggested he’d made a study of every motion he made so he did it perfectly each time. The thought made her hot all over.
Even with Fi in the backseat, it was as though Xavier filled the whole SUV. Vallon couldn’t get away from him and his cedar and incense scent, so he seemed to fill her pores, she breathed him in. And yet his entire focus was the road and the vehicle. His face, illuminated by the dashboard lights, showed total concentration.
Northgate shopping center slipped behind them as the highway hummed under their tires.
“Why are we heading North? We’re meeting Jason at the Broadway Denny’s aren’t we?”
Still he was silent.
“Xavier?”
Still nothing as the SUV sped through the first light of dawn.
A little pissed, now, she took a chance and grabbed his arm. “Would you talk to me? We should be headed south.”
“Do you really think this Jason is your friend? That he will not betray you to those who came for you?”
“He was the one who came back and warned me. Why shouldn’t I trust him?”
Xavier cast a black glance at her that suggested he reassessed her again and found her wanting. He looked back at the road. “He is not one of us.”
Okay, she was pissed now. “One of us? Of Us? What Us? Jason helped me—a couple of times. And he wasn’t following me!”
“So I have been no help.” That taunting grin was enough to make her grind her teeth.
“What the heck was it that we did back there, anyway?”
“Used the power than runs in the blood. Our blood.” Another amused curve formed on his lips as he focused on the road.
Their blood. Literally? Something to consider, but she shook her head. Outside the treed verge of the highway rushed by. Overhead the sky was lightening, the too-long night ending.
“Come on, Xavier, be straight with me. Where are you taking us—or I’m—we’re—getting out now.”
“At 120 kilometers an hour? Not very wise, Agent Drake. You and your friend would be killed.”
Her fists curled at his almost sarcasm. She grabbed the car door handle. “So what? Are you kidnapping us? Taking us to your secret lair? And for your information, in America we talk in miles, not kilometers. It sort of shows you’re not from here.”
A forbearing sigh, and finally he took his eyes off the road long enough to look at her. “This was definitely not in my plans, Agent Drake. I had not intended to take you into my care, only to speak with you. Unfortunately you seemed determined not to talk, and then events interceded and so you are here.”
It was the most direct answer she’d gotten from him. “So you were trying to talk to me down by the harbor?”
A nod as he drove.
“Not abduct me.”
Another nod and a glimmer of a smile in her direction. “Not that having you around would be so bad, no?”
“So what did you want to talk to me about?”
Xavier glanced over the seat back to a wide-eyed Fi. “That is a conversation for another place and time.”
“So where are you taking us, then?”
“Somewhere safe, where the others cannot find you.”
“Can’t find….” She started to protest, then thought better of it. Not being found by whoever had attacked her house was likely better for her health. “Then I need to call Jason.”
She hauled out her phone and was about to flip it on, when Xavier reached over and plucked it from her fingers. “Not a good idea. In fact, you will remove the battery and card from the phone. It is too easy to track your whereabouts. GPS.”
Her protest died on her lips. He was, unfortunately, right.
It was her turn to sigh as she took the phone back and pried out the offending bits of electronics, then slipped the pieces into her pocket. “Jason’s going to be pissed.”
“Your Detective Bryson should not be involved at all. As I said, he is not one of us—not Gifted as you call us. He cannot know about us.”
“He already knows.” She felt Xavier’s hot glance again, and his scent increased as if he was angry. Her afterburn simmered and boiled, but she fought it back. “I didn’t want to believe it either, but at the house—when I went upstairs to get Fi some dry clothes—,” She looked over her shoulder again. Fi looked very small and vulnerable, strapped into the backseat next to the file box. Vallon smiled. “When I went into my bedroom he told me he remembered.”
“Impossible.”
“You think I don’t know that? But he did. He described what had happened and feeling all stretched.” She rubbed the pounding spot between her eyes and wished like hell she wasn’t trapped in his car, going someplace only he knew of. “My god, my head feels too full. None of this should be happening.”
“Perhaps you misheard? Your words sound like the defense of a lover.”
That stopped her for a moment. “Is that what you think?” she said quietly into the silence. “I don’t love Jason.” Which suddenly became very important for him to understand.
Silence in the car as she sat back in her seat, arms crossed protectively. Xavier took the exit onto I-405 and headed south again. So they were staying in the Seattle area and not running for the border as she’d begun to suspect.
“I’ll ask again, where are you taking us?”
“Not to the AGS, if that is your fear.”
Vallon relaxed, because that was probably the first place Homeland Security would look; even if it made more sense to go there for the safety in the number of Gifted on site.
“I take it you don’t care for my organization.”
“What I care for is my business.” He glanced at her, but then his gaze softened as thin grey light filled the vehicle. Dawn. “Again I must apologize. The AGS does not understand what they dabble in.”
“And you do?”
That mysterious smile was all he gave her.
She held her tongue to show him she could be just as reticent, and wondered what had possessed her to even consider climbing into this man’s car.
Finally, as the light in the sky increased, he cut west at the Bothell exit and then wended his way through treed suburban subdivisions down along the shores of Lake Washington. As the first weak sunlight pierced the clouds, she recognized the dark spruce of St. Edwards State Park on the west side of the road. Mist clung to the treetops and the sun’s rays glittered on the rain-slicked branches.
Just south of the park they turned off the main road, but Vallon held her questions to herself. She’d know soon enough where they were going. The trouble was, she couldn’t be sure if she could trust Xavier. He played the game too close to his chest and revealed nothing of himself. Guardian, my ass.
Except he had helped her save Jason and her house and had apparently gotten her and Fi to safety. Why he’d done that, she had no idea. He hadn’t helped the other agents.
Her wrists still ached from his grip and the raw use of so much power. And she was too aware of every nuance of his movement, the position of his jaw, the lick of his gaze towards her. Not to mention the scent of cedar and incense that was acting like a frigging aphrodisiac on her.
A symptom of the afterburn, she was sure, and not wholly unpleasant. In fact, not unpleasant at all.
She found herself looking at him.
Aquiline features with a patina of long toil and fatigue. His black five-o’clock shadow just enhanced his dangerous appeal. No man any right-minded woman would ever be interested in.
But then when had she ever been right-minded where men were concerned?
She yanked her gaze away and looked out the window at the treed streets. He followed the confusing net of narrow roads down toward the water, then drove int
o a property swathed in mist from the lake, parked in a lot that was masked from the road, and turned off the car.
He said nothing, but climbed out. Vallon stayed where she was.
“I’m just supposed to trust you and follow you into those woods?”
“Yes.”
As simple as that. No insistence. Nothing. Just a fact he expected her to accept, and she could either get mad at it or take it as a sign that he had nothing to hide. She climbed out, helped Fi out of the car, and hefted the file box under one arm. Sighed.
“Where—where are we?” Fi’s gaze seemed to lock on the mist swathing the trees. She stepped closer to Vallon and Vallon placed her free arm around Fi’s shoulders, even though the afterburn made any touch almost painful.
“Damned if I know, sweetie, but he tells me it’s safe.”
Fi gazed at the dark-clad figure that was already heading into the trees. “I don’t know. I don’t know. Maybe I should go.”
Vallon squeezed her shoulders. “Don’t be silly. You want to be safe, don’t you? We have to hide out.”
Fi’s pale gaze returned to searching the air among the treetops, the mist under their branches, then wide-eyed she locked on Vallon and suddenly clutched her arm.
“Hide. Must hide. She’s looking.” Terrified wide eyes and a low moan as she spun away to look back the way they’d come. “Nowhere. Nowhere. Nowhere to hide.”
“She who, Fi? Who is she?”
But Fi was only shaking her head, shaking in her boots, and losing it. Vallon grabbed Fi’s hand. “Come on. Let’s see how safe Mr. I’m-your-guardian can make things.”
She followed Xavier where he had disappeared under the trees. A well-laid path of cedar tanbark perfumed the air and cushioned their footsteps. Ahead, the misted water glinted leadenly through the trees except where errant sunbeams laid gold leaf on the lake. The path forked—one path leading toward a small, darkened cabin masked by the trees and the other winding down the slope to the lake. With all of Saint Edwards Park backing the property it was truly a secluded spot.
A low whistle led her toward the lake and she came out at a T-shaped dock over motionless dark water. She stepped out onto the wood planking and her stomach lurched as the water’s dampening effects hit.
Nestled against the end of the dock floated a two-story, cedar-and-glass-sided houseboat. Xavier stood on the small deck that made up the porch, the door opened behind him and the soft hum of a generator coming from somewhere on board.
“Come inside, please. You will be safe here.” He ducked through the door and a light flicked on, spilling golden light onto the dock.
“This is safe?” Boats were never safe. She hadn’t liked them since her first bout of seasickness as a kid. “Stay behind me, Fi.”
She made it down the dock and stopped. With trepidation she set the file box down, then stepped down onto the porch and felt the slight give of the water. Bile filled her throat, but she swallowed it back, scowling at the boat even though it was charming with its convex portal-style window beside the door and the nautical doorknocker. She cautiously checked inside.
Spacious, with good sightlines. Good clear light and a good view across the lake to Lake City and Briercrest, with their thickly treed subdivisions.
A set of wrought-iron stairs spiraled to the second floor and Xavier worked in a cupboard beside the small kitchen, until finally another low hum started and a burst of heat blew through air vents.
“Come in and close the door and soon the place will be pleasant.” He must have seen her hesitation for his lips curved, but on him it was more like a predatory scowl. “What? You do not trust my hospitality?”
“I’m not sure whether I should trust you at all.”
“Que vergonha. Pardon—what a shame. The brave Agent does not trust the one who saved her life.”
“I didn’t need saving.”
His dark look said what he thought of that foolishness and she felt herself color. She sighed and straightened and went to bring Fi and the box inside.
But Fi shook her head. “I don’t like it. Don’t like it at all.” She started backing along the dock, until Vallon pulled her to a halt.
“This is safe, Fi. She can’t get you or me here. You’ll be okay.”
Fi looked at her in disbelief as Xavier joined them on the dock. He looked haggard in the shimmering light—as if he had expended more energy for a longer period than any Gifted should. Watching out for her?
“It’s true. It’s the water, Fi,” he said gently. “It blocks the power. Surely you feel it.”
Fi eyed the dark liquid beneath the dock.
“Remember, Fi? Remember school? It’s just like how moisture in the air diffuses laser readings and makes them less accurate.” She caught Fi’s hands and tried to coax her forward.
“You are unused to being cut off from the earth. She is part of you,” Xavier said.
“The earth is a she?”
“The ancients named her Pangea.”
Vallon rolled her eyes. “So I’ll just run right out and believe in the lessons of the ancients. Maybe I’ll believe in vampires, too.”
“Do as you wish, but in this there is truth. Over water you are most difficult to locate.”
Vallon turned to him. “And I’ll be sicker than a dog if that water starts to move—at all. I’ve always been prone to seasickness.”
“Then you are in luck. The forecast does not include wind.”
He waited as she turned back to Fi, who strained for the shore. “See, Fi? Nothing to worry about. It’s only the water.”
But Fi was still shaking her head. When Vallon tried to tug her to the boat, Fi freaked and plowed a fist into Vallon’s stomach.
She nearly dropped the box as she doubled over.
Fi leapt for shore, sprinting into the trees as if all manner of demons were on her trail.
Xavier was after her before Vallon could catch her breath. She abandoned the file box on the dock and went after, catching up to Xavier as he fought with banshee-screeching Fi.
“Stop it! Stop it!”
But Fi didn’t stop. She swung her fist wildly, bit and kicked and clawed at Xavier so he swore all manner of foreign epithets and a bloody welt ran down his face.
Vallon waded in and wrapped her arms around Fi. Hugged her until Fi suddenly went limp and collapsed, sobbing pathetically, in Vallon’s arms.
“Please. Please, please.” She lifted tear-reddened eyes to Vallon. “It hurts.” She knuckled her forehead.
“I know it doesn’t feel right, Fi, but you have to believe me. Trust me. It’s safe.” She cast a glare at Xavier because he damn well better be trustworthy after all this. He was examining the blood from his cheek as if he had never seen it before.
“I don’t feel good on the boat, either, but we have to go there to be safe. Remember?” She stroked Fi’s thin face. “Remember how you warned me? Well, here we’ll be safe. She can’t get you.”
Suspicion and disbelief. “On wwwater?”
“On water.”
Fi’s gaze slipped towards the lake and then to Xavier. “Will he be there?”
“Yes. He will. But you don’t have to have anything to do with him. I’ll deal with Mr. de Varga.”
Fi regarded him again, cocked her head. “He—feels different.”
Xavier looked at her with interest. “And how would that be, Fi?” Her name came out more rounded than normal in his accented voice.
“I’m Fi, not Fi.” She tried to imitate his deep voice. “You feel—.” Another considering gaze. “You feel really big—and different.”
“Just what everyone wants to hear, sweetie. The word is ‘tall’, Fi. Mr. de Varga is tall, like I’m tall. Call me big and you’ll piss me off.”
Fi went all serious. “I don’t mean tall.” Then she grinned. “I called you big in the academy.”
“Yeah, and I whupped your butt because of it.” Fi was back. Vallon hugged her friend, thankful that the immediate
crisis seemed to be over. At least momentarily. “So can we go onto the boat? It’s going to feel strange, but you’ll be okay.”
When Fi nodded, Vallon led them back to the dock. Xavier brought up the rear, leaving Vallon with the feeling he didn’t want to chance either of them getting away.
The small house was already warm when they entered, but a tremor ran through Fi and increased into a steady shiver while she muttered under her breath. Vallon sat her down on the couch that faced out to the lake and found a blanket to wrap around her. Then she turned to the file box Xavier had brought in and set on the floor. It seemed like weeks since Landon had given it to her, and she still hadn’t cracked the lid.
“Maybe you can make us some tea while I get started on this?”
Xavier nodded. “I will do better than that. How about scrambled eggs?” He didn’t wait for agreement, but doffed his black coat, revealing a slim build and strong shoulders. He rolled up shirtsleeves, showing ripcord muscle the afterburn targeted on as he hauled out a mixing bowl and eggs and whipped them in quick, measured strokes. Soon the room filled with the comforting scent of cooked eggs and toast, and Vallon had to admit she was beginning to like this man.
She clamped down on the lust and forced herself to look away. Across the lake, the far shore was bathed in detail-swallowing mist. A single sail coasted silently southward.
In an experiment, she -reached- and her power reverberated in her head like underwater bells with the scent of roses—and was that licorice?
She coughed, spluttered up, and found Xavier’s gaze on her. “Not a good idea, Agent Drake. There is a reason you are here. Your perceptions are clouded, but so are those of your enemy.”
“So no one can find us here?”
“Not by any means familiar to the AGS.”
“But there are other means?” She met his steady gaze, but it gave away nothing. Just darkness and a sense of difference she just couldn’t put her finger on. Finally she shook her head. “You and your damn secrets. You’re not going to tell me anything about what happened at the house, either, are you?”
“It was not my intention.”
Every muscle in her body tensed in frustration. She plumped down on the couch and dragged the file box to her, flipped the lid as Xavier brought her a plate and a mug full of tea fragrant with mint and chamomile. “It will relax you—and Fi.” He glanced in Fi’s direction and took her food and drink. “She has the addict’s look. I am afraid for her.”
“Addict?” Vallon studied Fi with a new eye. She sat huddled with the blanket around her like some dime-store Indian, her blonde dreads falling around her face like vines. Her shivers had only increased, and so had her mutterings. “Fi would never do drugs.”
“Not drugs. She appears as one who has become dependent on the use of the Gift.”
That took Vallon’s attention from the food and the box. She chewed a moment.
“Thank you. This is good. I hadn’t realized I was hungry.” Another look at Fi. “She never really liked using the Gift. She did in school, but she wasn’t like me—always getting into trouble for using it off school grounds.”
Xavier crouched in front of Fi, gently caught her chin and brought her glazed gaze up to his. She’d already bolted down the food like a ravenous animal. “It is the Gift, isn’t it little one?”
Her pale gaze flickered away like a distant point caught in sun-glare, and Xavier sighed and took the empty plate from her. “There is no reason to feel shame, Fi. It is something tempting to us all. You are very brave to be here.” He nodded encouragement.
Then he stood up and went back to the kitchen for his own plate of food. Ate it thoughtfully. “It will be harder on her, but in a few days it will be better.”
The jumble of questions in Vallon all came welling up. “A few days? I—we can’t stay here a few days. I have an investigation to run and limited time to do it.”
She looked at her watch and swore. Ten hours left and she hadn’t even begun the process of sorting out who from the AGS was trying to kill her and had killed the other Agents.
“I can’t stay here. The person doing this is out there—and everyone at the AGS is in danger.”
“As you are in danger.”
She waved that fact away. “Listen, you obviously know stuff. Is there anything—anything at all you can tell me that might help me in this?”
His gaze met hers, and even in the muddied environment of the houseboat she felt his power, like magnetic north. She swallowed and saw him stop himself as he started to shake his head.
“First tell me who those men were last night.”
The question surprised her. “I can’t be sure. But my best guess is Homeland Security. Oh, shit.”
She sank back on the couch beside Fi, and felt suddenly weak. If those men were HS, then everything had sped up. Her sixteen hours was down to none.
Chapter 20—Magnetic North