Gray Dawn, page 20
From this point on, he would be in charge of our juvenile recruitment program start to finish.
Until we figured out a better way to handle underage offenders, the kids could use someone like him.
“I can see you two are friends, and I won’t stand in the way of that. You can call, email, text, whatever.”
“I can visit him?” She rose onto the tips of her toes. “That would be amazing.”
Several different warnings rattled around in my brain, but I couldn’t shake a single one loose.
“I don’t like him like that.” She must have read my concern in my face. “He’s just really cool.”
“You seemed to like him like that plenty not so long ago.”
“I might have been curious about sex with a vampire. Who wouldn’t be? Seriously? It’s so hot when you read about it. But…” She picked at her thumbnail. “Sex isn’t a Band-Aid. There are some types of pain it can’t heal.” She sneaked a glance up at me. “Even if it might be fun trying.”
Her laughter at my sharp intake of breath peeled back the layers, the hardness, revealing the girl she used to be. The one who couldn’t have survived in our world but was determined to hold her own now.
“I miss him,” she confessed softly. “Aedan.”
“I do too.” I didn’t want to have this conversation, but it was happening. “That’s why I worry about you.”
“Camber swears the quickest way to get over a guy is to get under a new one.” She spread her hands. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“All bad ideas do.”
“I’m glad you stopped me from making a mistake with a person who could be a good friend to me.” She exhaled. “He really is fantastic in the ring. I could watch him for hours.” She caught my expression and laughed. “Not in a pervy way. I promise. Though have you seen him without a shirt because—”
Sticking my fingers into my ears, I plugged them to avoid hearing about pecs or abs or whatever else.
Finally, she tugged my arm until I let her win and faced her head-on.
“I’ll behave.” Her grin said otherwise, but I was glad to see it. “And I’ll go to the farm. To help however I can.” She finally got around to the question I had been expecting from her. “Will you be there?”
“Often if not always.” I couldn’t say yet where the Bureau, therefore I, would land. “But you can visit me whenever you like.” I gave her a stern glare. “As long as you tell everyone where you’re going before you arrive at the airport next time.”
“I will, I will.” She studied me. “You look like you’ve got more to say.”
“I wanted to do this when Camber, you, and I could be together.” I rubbed the base of my neck. “That’s not going to happen for a while. We still have to root out anyone else loyal to Luca and patch up the Bureau’s public image.” The time for speeches had finally come. Ugh. I had avoided addressing our allies for long enough. “We also have to rebuild our headquarters and a million other things.”
“You’re scaring me.”
“I want you and Camber to have my house.” I didn’t give her a key. They both already had them. I did, however, buy keychains meant for realtors with tiny houses and even tinier sold signs on them. “I can’t live in Samford full-time, and I don’t want the house to fall into disrepair waiting on a day that might never come.” I pressed the keychains into her palm, but she didn’t so much as blink, so I rushed out, “I also want to give you two the shop.” Along with whatever kept eating those blasted winter rosebuds. Arden, at least, would be equipped to deal with that now. “You’ve been running it yourselves for the past year. You’ve proven you can do it. I don’t know if you want—”
Arden flung herself at me, wrapping me in a suffocating hug. “This is too much.”
“You’ve earned it.” I hugged her back. “Ten times over.”
Guilt was a part of my reasoning, of course, but mostly I just wanted the girls safe and secure without me. A job where they were their own bosses. A home near their parents without a mortgage. I would even throw in my SUV to give Arden her own ride so she and Camber didn’t have to share anymore. Those were tools that would help them live full and successful lives.
“If you give us your house—your house, Rue—and your shop…” Emotion thickened her voice as she held on tighter. “Will we ever see you?” She hiccupped a sob. “This isn’t a trick, is it? It’s not goodbye?”
“It’s not a trick.” I kissed the top of her head the way I did Colby. “It’s definitely not goodbye.”
“Okay.” She sniffled and withdrew, wiping her cheeks with her palms. “Okay.”
“You can take a minute.” I laughed softly. “You don’t have to decide now.”
“No one needs a minute to decide that yes, they want a free house.” A manic laugh escaped, and she slapped a hand over her mouth until she could control herself. “You’re setting us up for life. You realize that? We could live in Samford, run your shop, and never want for anything.” She sobered. “You’re sure this isn’t a goodbye? I agree and then never see you again? You’re sure? You promise?”
“I’ll give you a blood vow if it makes you rest easier.” I chuckled under my breath. “You’re not getting rid of me that easy.” I angled down my chin. “Especially now that you know our secrets.”
Arms folded across her stomach, she paced from one end of the empty parking slot to the other.
Once, twice, three times.
“You can’t do it like this.” She lurched to a stop. “You can’t dump this in my lap and expect me to explain to Camber… I don’t know what I would even say.” She tossed the keychains back to me. “Come to Samford, take us out for dinner, and break the news then.”
“I don’t know what to say either,” I confessed, voice tight. “I was hoping you would know.”
“We’ll figure it out.” She released the tension in her shoulders. “We’ve got time.”
For once, we had all the time in the world.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Four weeks later.
Head tipped back, I watched the ceiling pinwheel above me as I spun circles in my task chair in the Office of the Director at the Black Hat Bureau’s official temporary headquarters in Boston, AKA The Spinnaker.
Yes, I bought the hotel. Well, not me personally. Black Hat ponied up the cash.
With the Kellies secure in their ballroom, the database functional, and an okayish relationship with local law enforcement via Captain Peters, Boston was as good a place as any for the Bureau to recover while a new compound was built on top of the bones of the old one. There was nice symbology in that, even if it came with ghosts from our pasts. It helped that the Bureau already owned the property.
Initial estimates for construction were astronomical. I had to save money somehow. Using land Dad had inherited upon his father’s death, and then deeded to me, made the most sense. Especially after I got an advance viewing of the blueprints Clay had been sketching since his appointment as Director of Fun that included a heated indoor pool, tennis court, basketball court, bowling alley, and home theater.
Eventually, I would have to break the news that I couldn’t afford every single thing. That he would have to let a few items slide. More than a few. Most of them had to go. His list was ridiculous.
There was also a rather impressive hole carved into the cliff, right down to the ocean floor, that I had decided would make an ideal tomb for what remained of the Hunk.
The Kellies wouldn’t be returning to their former quarters, in case they had other hidey-holes we didn’t know about, so I might as well put their hard work to good use. Until we discovered how to destroy the Hunk, if it was even possible, we had to settle for containment.
The plan was to pour a layer of concrete thirty feet deep, toss it in, and then watch it sink while I cackled to do my little moth girl proud. Only once that set would I fill in the other seventy feet until the chamber was full and the book was encased in a solid block that wasn’t going anywhere without me knowing about it.
After that, I could ward the whole chamber to hide the molten Hunk’s power signature. I planned to hire the water witches who helped us contain Pontchy the sea monster in Lake Pontchartrain to ensure the ocean didn’t erode the magic. The cost of their services would trim a little more from Clay’s wish list, but the Hunk—the Blob?—was the priority.
For now, I was too grateful to see a bounce in his step again to pick a fight over which ideas got the ax.
“Dollface.” Clay stuck his head into the room. “You’re going to make yourself sick if you keep going.”
“I’m bored.” I put my feet down, stopping with him in my sights. “What’s taking Asa so long?”
He clamped a hand on the doorframe, and rainbows glinted off the diamond band around his ring finger.
“Put that thing away.” I shielded my eyes. “Did Moran have to get you such a huge engagement ring?”
“She’s under the impression I’m extra.” He twisted his wrist to make the stone glitter. “I have no clue where she got that idea. I’m a simple boy with simple needs.”
That private talk between Moran and Clay? Yup. This was the result.
There had been some confusion on her end about traditional gender roles in mixed-species relationships between golems and daemons, but Clay didn’t mind one bit. He wanted to be sure she was sure, so their wedding date was set a solid two years away, on his chosen birthday.
That was the excuse he gave when I asked why they had chosen to wait, anyway, but Clay put the extra in extravaganza, as Moran clearly knew when she went ring shopping. I figured he needed every second of that time to plan his wedding bash.
Asa and I hadn’t set a date yet, but I half expected Clay to hand me an invitation one day out of the blue for my own ceremony. It was a very man of honor/wedding planner thing to do. Factor in Derry as Asa’s best man, in charge of the bachelor party, and I was girding my loins a lot lately. That didn’t touch on the self-appointed best friend of honor, Marita, who had zero interest in planning a wedding but wanted the final word on the menu as well as a seat at all the tastings and her name added to the gift registry.
Tapping a finger against my chin, I wondered, “Do simple boys have walk-in wig closets?”
“Let’s leave my wigs, and any closets they may or may not have, out of this.”
“Hey.” The angle was hurting my neck, so I sat all the way up to see better. “Have you seen Arden?”
Arden, who made it a month before she got permission from Fergal to come visit, had spent the day as a student. She had sat in on Fergal’s inaugural lecture on folklore that was the precursor to the curriculum he was developing for juvenile recruits. She hadn’t stopped chattering about it since.
The novelty of a human in class meant questions aplenty from the other students. She had been as thick as thieves with Eliza Toussaint, and her girlfriend, Tibby Garnier, by the time the bell rang. She was in touch with Riley West, Captain Peter’s niece, as well. I was glad she was growing her circle of friends but sad she would forever straddle the line of fully belonging in either crowd. Para or human.
“She and Colby were hashing out the playlist the last time I saw them.”
Tonight was the first of the Director of Fun’s organized events for agents to blow off steam.
“I thought you hired a DJ?”
“I thought I did too, but he didn’t show.”
“Bummer.”
“Yeah, well, the girls will do a better job anyway.” He ran a finger along the inside of his shirt collar. “Plus, Colby said she could really use the money when Super Mystics drops next month.”
“How sure are you the DJ wasn’t cancelled?”
“Rude.” Clay slapped a hand across his chest. “What are you accusing Shorty of, exactly?”
“Taking steps to ensure she can afford any add-ons they make available?”
Mounts, clothes, weapons, pets.
Sucker that I was, she had already conned me out of the cost of the expansion pack itself.
“The nerve.” He huffed. “I’m offended on her behalf.”
Leaning back in my chair, I dug my thumbs into my eyes. “Mmm-hmm.”
“You okay there, Dollface?”
“Just tired.”
After a month of nonstop travel on the We’re Black Hat, and We’re Totally Okay grand tour that carried Asa and me around to the major cities with a strong Black Hat presence, I was burnt out on socializing. It had been worth it to engender goodwill from the people we worked alongside but also mind-numbing to perform the same song and dance routine in every city to prove the Bureau’s solvency.
Watching bad decisions happen in real time wasn’t my top pick for how to spend our first night back, but I was the director now. Sacrifices must be made. I could visit the open bar, smile and wave, and then crawl into bed in the penthouse suite that was our home for the next however long it took to rebuild the redesigned compound and the less imposing manor we intended to offer as free housing to agents.
A knock on the wall drew my attention to where Asa stood framed in the doorway.
“Hiya, handsome.” I wiggled my fingers at him. “I was starting to think you got lost.”
“I’m counting on you, Ace.” Clay punched his shoulder. “Get our fearless leader downstairs in five.”
“Don’t worry.” He smiled a small smile. “I’ll take care of Rue.”
As soon as Clay left, I stood and invited myself into Asa’s arms. He stroked my back and kissed my cheek.
“Politicking took its toll on you.” He slid his hand under my shirt to tease my waist. “You need to rest.”
“As soon as the party is over,” I promised him, pleasant warmth unspooling in my middle.
“What if, instead of partying, we pick a vacant room at random and spend the next week naked in bed?”
Heart thumping harder, I rested my palms on his chest, over his heart. “What would we tell Clay?”
“The petting zoo I hired to set up in the parking lot ought to distract him. There are baby goats. He might not even notice we didn’t make it. And, if he does, they have ducklings and a wading pool on standby.”
Ah. That explained the wait. “And what would we tell everyone else?”
“That the Director of Fun is in charge until we return from a highly classified mission.”
“Okay, okay. I see you’ve thought of everything. But I’ll only say yes if you agree to a 40-30-30 split.”
Caution won out, and he asked, “What does the 40-30-30 stand for?”
“Forty percent sleep, thirty percent sex, and thirty percent cuddling with movies and takeout.”
“How about fifty percent sleep, and we split the other half between sex, movies, and takeout.”
“They do say good relationships are about compromise.”
“Then pick a number between one hundred and six hundred.”
“Two hundred and sixty three.”
“Room two hundred and sixty three it is.” His fingertips dug into my skin. “Have I told you I love you?”
“Only a few times today. Like five or six.” I stuck out my bottom lip. “So, basically, it’s been an eternity.”
“I love you.” He pressed his lips to mine. “More with every—”
A loud pounding noise startled us apart, and we spun to face the door.
“Rue,” Clay yelled, proving his timing was as flawless as ever. “I know you and Ace are still in there.”
The door was the only exit, and if we walked out it, we wouldn’t see the inside of our room for hours.
Or, it would have been the only exit, if I wasn’t a highly motivated gray witch.
After pressing a finger to my lips, I pointed to the window. I crept over, flipped the latches, then flung it open. As a gust of wind fanned Asa’s hair, I climbed out, hanging off the frame, and summoned my wings in a rush of silvery magic.
“I’ll give you to the count of three,” Clay warned, “then I’m coming in.”
Holding out my hand, I waited for Asa to decide. “Do you trust me?”
“You have to ask?”
He slid his palm over mine and up my arm, until our forearms were locked, then he stepped onto the sill.
“One.”
I held myself aloft while I cast the light as a feather spell over him.
“Two.”
Wings pumping, I rose, lifting Asa off his feet while he grinned with the same childlike joy as Blay.
“Three.”
A thud echoed behind us, and I shot higher, faster, Asa dangling from our handclasp.
Clay stuck his head out the window as we cleared two more floors.
Whatever threats he shouted at us were absorbed by the traffic, the wind, and Asa’s and my laughter.
Our world could be dark and dangerous, cold and uncaring, but as long as we had each other, the ability to laugh at ourselves—and the speed to outrun indignant golems—we could survive anything life threw at us.
But having a petting zoo on speed dial probably didn’t hurt.
Aedan
Ten years later…
The house was the same. Small. White. The hill was greener than I remembered, gentler too. I heard the creek running behind the house, its burble a familiar lullaby from my life before.
I was the only thing that had changed, the only thing that no longer belonged, but I had to come.
The driveway might as well have been paved with glue for how my feet stuck now that I was here.
An unexpected guest, I stared and stared, wishing I would catch her in one of the windows.
The front door burst open, bouncing off the siding with a suddenness that shot my heart into my throat, but the thin silhouette emerging onto the porch didn’t belong to her. Or to Camber.
A girl around fifteen locked gazes with me, and tears sprung to her blue eyes. She broke into a smile that caused my ribs to creak under the weight of her stare. She leapt the stairs, hit the grass, and ran straight for me.
