“YOU COULD'VE AT LEAST WARNED ME! How could you do that to me? That’s our contact?” I wasn’t even trying to keep my voice down. A light came on in a second floor window next door.
Sean hushed me for the third time and dragged me behind a parked car. “We can talk about this back at the penthouse. Hold onto me.” He wrapped both arms around me, and I elbowed him in the gut. I was in no mood for cuddling.
“Let go! I’m done talking to you.” I started off down the alley in a huff.
At the same time, a window screeched open above us, and a man stuck his head out, yelling, “Hey! What are you doing with my car?” Accompanying the yelling was the unmistakable sound of someone ratcheting a shot gun.
Things happened quickly then. The sound of the shotgun blast echoed in my ears as Sean grabbed me with both hands and threw me to the ground behind the car. I sucked in my breath as we vanished into thin air. We landed hard on the marble foyer in the penthouse. Sean broke our fall, so I landed sprawled on top of him. He grunted with the impact and clapped a hand hard over my mouth to stop my screaming. I looked wildly around and then calmed down when I saw where we were. He didn’t remove his hand though. Clearly, he was unhappy with me. Well, that was too bad. I wasn’t happy with him either. With absolutely no regret whatsoever, I bit his hand until he started swearing and let go. I was in the middle of scrambling off of him when boots came running into the room. I looked up into several pairs of amused male eyes. I looked down to see I was straddling Sean’s waist with both knees and one hand was pressed against his groin.
“It’s not what it looks like!” I blushed to the roots of my hair.
Killian swept his eyes from the top of our heads to the tips of our toes and settled on my hand on Sean’s crotch, and asked, “What do you think we think it looks like, exactly?”
I jerked my hand away like it was on fire.
Dec gave Sean a thumbs up. Sean’s response was a smirk—the jerk! Jordan and Alex observed from the back of the room and wisely said nothing. Sometimes age is a good thing. Dec came over and offered me a hand. After he pulled me up, Sean got stiffly to his feet. Killian whistled with alarm.
To say I was uncomfortable would be an understatement of gigantic proportions. I was lying on my stomach letting my angry boyfriend pick shotgun pellets out of my butt. He wasn’t being very gentle about it either. To make things worse, we had an audience because Alex thought Sean needed supervision. When forced to choose between Killian and Dec as a chaperone, I picked Dec because I thought he would be more sympathetic. The problem was the only one who had any surgical skills at all was Killian. He had some real experience with patching up people on the battlefield. He offered to take out the pellets, but Sean flatly refused. He would do it, and Killian could supervise. So that was the compromise. As a result, my butt cheek was on display, and I was wishing for death. Ouch!
“Dec, she’s doing it again,” Sean observed without sympathy.
“Sorry, love.” Dec was trying hard not to look and sidled up now with averted eyes. He picked up my hand and rubbed it in between his. I knew the drill by now. I took a deep breath and forced myself to relax. Drowsy and warm, I dozed off to the sound of his tuneless humming of an Irish folk song and the scent of fresh leaves.
A few days later, I was up and around but moving stiffly. Luckily, my body was busily healing itself at a pretty fast rate. We were going back out to Dump tonight. To my chagrin, we were stuck with the blonde. She was an informant who worked with the Primani in the city. She’d been sent to track Sean down because she had information on Dagin. She was supposed to meet us at Dump and give us an update.
The taxi dropped us off a few blocks away. Sean fell into soldier-mode and moved with caution. He seemed to be listening for something as he walked. A wave of dread assaulted me as we turned the corner. I held my breath to listen. It was quiet here . . . too quiet . . . unnaturally quiet. I strained to see into the shadows but saw nothing out of the ordinary. My intuition was growing. Maybe I could use it to sense the bad guys. I scrunched my eyes and tried to sense them. A muffled snort from Sean interrupted my concentration.
“Seriously?” He was biting his lip trying not to laugh.
“What?” I looked down my nose with as much haughtiness as I could drum up.
He shook his head and kept moving.
Muffled music greeted us when we reached the stairway to Dump. A small cloud of cigarette smoke wafted out the door as we walked inside. It was crowded tonight. Every table was full, and there were people standing beside the battered wooden bar. I looked around but didn’t see any blond bitches so I guess our informant wasn’t there yet. RockHard! was in the middle of a song. Tonight the bass player was strutting around in a kilt. Huh. That was different. I nibbled on a fingernail while I pondered the mysteries of the Scottish kilt. Several women were watching with hypnotized eyes as the kilt swung back and forth to the rhythm of the song. I grinned around my hand as I remembered the age old question.
Sean casually leaned against the wall near a subwoofer. I casually leaned against him. This spot gave us the best vantage point for watching the door. He pretended to enjoy the band and occasionally nuzzled me or did something else obviously affectionate in case anyone was looking. As far as anyone knew, we were just two young people out for a good time. Why we chose Dump for it is a mystery someone should have questioned. I envied Sean’s ability to multi-task. He was completely focused on the door while idly running one hand up and down my thigh. He was taut and hot against me. He practically vibrated with suppressed energy and it was turning me on. I had asked him about these physical changes at the penthouse today. He shrugged and said it was part of their bodies’ preparation for combat. The flight or fight response was stronger in the Primani body so every physical change was magnified.
“Flight response?” I prodded.
He scoffed, “Yeah, but we don’t use that one. Primani never run from a fight.”
After an hour or so, the door opened and in walked the blonde. She was a tall woman with hair that fell in a straight line to her shoulders. Based on the shadowy roots, I assumed the color wasn’t hers. She was wearing tight black jeans with vinyl boots and a fitted black vinyl coat that came to her knees. She looked like a licorice stick.
Sean ran his lips across my ear. Little jolts of electricity trickled from my neck to my toes. I involuntarily arched against him like a cat, my fingers curling into the hair at the nape of his neck. Still nibbling on me, he purred, “Focus, darlin’! It’s just for show.” He raised a lazy hand, and the blonde moved in our direction. It was time to get to work.
Much, much later that night, I stood on the balcony, mesmerized. The lights of the city sparkled and winked for as far as my eyes could see. It was the witching hour, and I was in a mystical mood. Determined to get a leash on my new psychic abilities, I was secretly experimenting whenever I was alone. Right now, I was attempting to see into the building across from ours. It would be useful if I could sense people or demons this way. I had a theory but needed to gather more data. Pushing away all thoughts, I inhaled slowly, deeply. I visualized my mind as a large airy room that was empty of everything but delicate cream walls. It was my blank canvas. My mind was drifting towards the closest window when warm arms wrapped around me. Images of him filled my entire mental room. With a small sense of satisfaction, I realized I had felt him coming. Not just a person coming, but I knew without doubt, that it was Sean.
“Come here, beautiful.” Standing behind me, he fitted me against his seemingly ever-present erection and lifted my hair to expose my neck. As his tongue stroked the tender skin, I rubbed my butt against him, wanting only to be closer, to be naked beside him.
His skin was so hot that I peeled off the blanket I was wrapped in. Underneath I wore only a pair of black yoga pants and a pale silk tank. He swept his tongue along my collarbone and up my throat, and I began to burn . . . literally. Suddenly feverish, my skin prickled with sweat. My head swam oddly. It wasn’t just the
effect of his kisses. This feeling was new. I turned into his arms. Gripping my face in one hand, he kissed me with an urgency that startled me. My heart was skipping beats. I couldn’t seem to breathe right. Lights danced behind my eyes. I tried to pull back, but an odd sense of connection made me stop. I pressed my forehead against his. My heart was still pounding erratically. Without a word, Sean held up our linked hands.
“You’re burning up!” He smiled crookedly as he wiped a bead of sweat off the side of my face.
“Something’s changed. I feel different.” I pulled his hand over and kissed his palm. I rested my chin on our hands and caught my breath.
“You’re changing. It’s you that’s different. It’s been happening for a while. You haven’t noticed until now?”
“I don’t understand.”
“That makes two of us!” He pulled me down to sit beside him. “I wish I knew, but I don’t. I tried to ask Alex, but he didn’t know either. You, love, are uncharted territory for us.”
I pondered this for a minute, and asked, “So what now?”
“Well, we watch and see. There’s no doubt you’re a part of us, Mica. Somehow, you’ve become connected to us, and I think your destiny is woven into ours . . . and mine, I hope. We don’t have all the answers. But I think you’re changing physically because of the changes in your brain. You’re tapping into new areas . . . it seems reasonable to me.”
That sort of made sense. I’m using different parts of my brain to use these new abilities, so maybe that’s triggered other changes. Hmmm . . . That doesn’t really explain the physical connection I felt to Sean just now . . .
“Do you think I have a halo now?” I perked up at the thought and waited for him to laugh at me.
To my surprise, he didn’t laugh at all. Instead, he looked thoughtful. “I don’t think so. Angels have halos, love. I think you’re something else entirely. I’m stumped.”
“Sean . . .” I groped for the right words, twisting my locket on its chain.
I cleared my throat and tried again. “Sean, are you okay? I mean, you’ve been stressed, and sometimes I see you staring into space. You seem worried . . . and sad. Can’t I help?”
He was silent for so long I didn’t think he was going to answer me. Then he walked over to the edge of the balcony. His back was rigid as he stared into the darkness. The breeze ruffled his hair; the vulnerable skin at the nape of his neck gleamed faintly in the moonlight. I wanted to wrap my arms around him and soothe him, but he wouldn’t want it. Eventually, he let out a breath and started to talk.
“I’m afraid. For the first time in my life, I’m afraid. I don’t know how to stop feeling this way, and it’s making me crazy.” He turned with pain clouding his eyes.
“Fear is a healthy reaction to near-death experiences,” I observed carefully.
“Not for us! Primani fear nothing! Look at who we are! Why would I be afraid?” He rolled his shoulders and pushed away from the wall.
“What’s changed then?”
“You! You’re the change . . . we are the change. You and I are . . . something I can’t even explain to myself. I feel such a connection with you, to you, that I know in my heart is right.” Instantly, he was in front of me with my hands in his. He held up our joined hands again. “Do you not see it? We are more than just chemistry or even love. We are something extraordinary.”
Like a mirage, my fingers shimmered and melted into his as if we were one person. He wiggled our hands. The strange image was gone, and we were just two people holding hands again.
“I’ve been seeing that more and more here in the city. When we touch . . . sometimes I see it.” He scratched absently at the dark stubble on his jaw. “Things are speeding up . . . our connection is growing, your intuition is getting stronger, your body’s changing . . . I don’t question these things. I believe in predestination. These changes have a purpose, and you and I are meant to be together. I have no doubts about that. But I worry. I’m afraid for you . . . for us.”
I listened to his heart beating. “It’s the dream, isn’t it?”
He pulled away, lips thinning. “I told you I don’t dream.”
“You did. But that doesn’t mean it’s true.”
The dawn came too early the next morning. I didn’t want to get out of bed, but the insistent pounding on my door kept me from going back to sleep. What was wrong now? All right, all right, already! I yanked on a robe and yanked open the door.
“You look like hell. And since I’ve actually been there, I can say that with conviction.”
“And I was just starting to like you too.”
Killian bowed at the waist, and said, “If it pleases the princess, we’re about to have a meeting with Alex. If you can fit it into your schedule, your presence was requested.” The familiar scowl was present, but there was a little gleam in his eye. Was he getting a sense of humor? No one would believe it.
Straightening, he added, “Dani might.” He turned and sauntered off.
Chapter 22: Demons and Drummers