Striding toward them was a tall person—Kate thought it was a woman—dressed all in black. A tight black skirt, high black boots, and a low cut black blouse which showed a fair amount of pale cleavage was Kate’s initial impression. Then the woman came closer and she saw that she also had midnight black hair which was pulled severely back in a tight bun at the back of her neck, showing her pale, angular face. Aside from her paper-pale skin, the only thing about her that wasn’t black was her eyes, which were a deep, vivid violet. Even her lips were painted in black lipstick—at least Kate thought it was lipstick. She supposed it could just be their natural color.
“Who are you?” Rone had taken a protective stance in front of her, his feet spread, keeping himself between Kate and the newcomer.
“I am the Madam of Shadows as you will soon learn to your very great regret.” The woman cocked her head to look at him though she was so tall Rone only had an inch or two in height on her. Of course, part of that was probably her boots which had six inch heels on them. Kate was in a unique position to study them since she was still crouching naked on the ground behind the big Kindred.
“Madam Shadow,” Rone growled angrily. “I’m glad you’re here. Kate nearly drowned in your pool just now.”
“Why didn’t you let her?” the tall woman asked coolly.
“What?” Rone demanded. “What in the Seven Hells are you talking about?”
“I said you should have let her drown.” Madam Shadow gave Kate a look that was colder than the slime she’d just been in. “That is, after all, the purpose of the pool.”
“What?” Rone’s piercing blue eyes blazed. “Are you saying what just happened was intentional? That you knowingly tried to drown my mate? Because if that’s the case—”
“Calm yourself, Warrior,” she snapped. “That is the way the pool works. Unfortunately, it was unable to do its job you dragged your mate out before the process was complete.”
“He dragged me out because I was about to drown,” Kate said, getting shakily to her feet.
“You were meant to drown, little female,” Madam Shadow said. “How else could the impure part of you die and the wholesome part be reborn? Those who immerse themselves in the Pool of Purification must meet death and be revived for the treatment to work.”
“So…you put me in there knowing I was supposed to die?” Kate could hardly believe it. “And all that—the way the water turned red and then black—that was all meant to happen?”
“Of course. The change in the chemicals’ consistency and composition is in direct response to the amount and type of toxins they are leaching from the body.” Madam Shadow made a disgusted face. “I was told that you were completely filled with fear toxins and memory blockers but I have never seen the pool turn quite that color before.”
“So you actually planned to allow my wife to drown and then you would attempt to revive her?” Rone sounded like he couldn’t believe it. “What if you couldn’t? What if she didn’t come back?”
“Actually, it’s the Pool of Purification itself which does the drowning and reviving,” Madam Shadow said. “It almost always brings the subject it is purifying back…well, unless they are too polluted for it to cleanse properly. In which case, it will often deem the revival to be unnecessary.” She looked Kate up and down. “I have my doubts that it might have chosen to revive you, my dear. You were most terribly polluted.”
“That isn’t her fault,” Rone said angrily. “She was infected with fear toxins, as you said earlier. That doesn’t make her a bad person or someone unworthy to live. Goddess, what is wrong with you fucking people?”
“The only thing wrong here is that you stopped the treatment too soon,” Madam Shadow snapped.
“But you just said it would have killed me—and probably not even tried to bring me back!” Kate eyed the oily black surface of the pool mistrustfully.
“Yes, well—at least the treatment would have been complete and the pool could have emptied and purified itself,” the tall woman sniffed, as though Kate’s life meant nothing. “As it stands, it will be unable to self-cleanse unless you get back in and let it finish the process.”
“Like Hell she will,” Rone growled, his big hands balling into fists. “If you even think—”
“No, no—I can see how protective you are of her, Warrior. I will not demand such a thing.” Her violet eyes flashed. “What I will demand however is that the two of you finish what the pool started in a more traditional way. We have an excellent success rate here at Frost and Flame and I don’t intend to let the two of you ruin it.”
“What? What are you talking about?” Kate demanded. “Finish what it started? It didn’t do any good at all! I don’t recall a damn thing more than I could when I got into it. The past three years are still gone—I can’t remember anything.”
“Nothing at all?” Rone looked at her, and the need in his blue eyes was so great Kate had to look away.
“Sorry,” she muttered. “Maybe you should have just left me in there.”
“Of course I couldn’t do that,” Rone growled. “I just thought maybe…”
“The reason your memory is not restored is because you didn’t allow the Pool to finish its job,” Madam Shadow said briskly. “However, though it was unable to bring back your memory, you may take comfort in knowing that most of the fear toxins have been leached out of your system.”
“They have?” Kate looked at her mistrustfully. The woman had just admitted that she’d planned to have Kate drowned on purpose—it was kind of hard to trust anything she said after hearing that.
“Of course they have. Go on—try it.” From somewhere in the folds of her tight black skirt, Madam Shadow produced a long, thin black stick which she slipped between her lush black lips. She snapped her fingers and a small flame appeared, igniting the end of it. It was only when Kate saw her take a deep drag on the flaming thing that she understood Madam Shadow was smoking—smoking what looked like a foot-long, skinny black cigarette.
“Try what?” she asked, uncertainly.
“Try to touch him, of course.” Madam Shadow blew a cloud of blue smoke which smelled like burnt rose petals at her head. Kate waved it away, coughing and choking. “Go on—I don’t have all day.”
Hesitantly, Kate turned to the big Kindred. She still had one arm wrapped firmly around her breasts and her legs tightly closed to conceal her sex but she lifted her free hand and reached out to touch him.
Rone stood perfectly still for the operation, as though she was a skiddish horse that might spook at his least movement. Kate could see he was trying to conceal his hope but when she caught a glimpse of his eyes it was there—blazing in their glowing blue depths.
Taking a deep breath, she allowed her fingertips to brush over the skin of his forearm. Of course, they were both still coated in the black slime of the pool but she could feel his skin beneath hers well enough. She waited for the panic response to begin—the feeling that her heart was trying to pound its way out of her chest and that her lungs were paper bags that wouldn’t inflate properly. But though she felt a slight tremble of nerves—the panic was gone.
Just to be sure, she gripped his muscular forearm in her hand and held it there. Still nothing except the awkwardness of touching a man she didn’t know—or didn’t know intimately, anyway.
“Well?” Rone’s deep voice was tense.
“She’s right.” Kate looked up at him. “I can touch you now without freaking out—without feeling like I’m going to pass out from fear.”
“Thank the Goddess.” He blew out a breath and wiped a hand over his face, putting a smudge of black slime on his cheek.
“This doesn’t mean I want to immediately jump in bed with you, though,” Kate felt compelled to tell him. “I mean, I still don’t remember you—don’t know you the way you know me. So I’m really sorry but—”
“No, no—I understand.” He nodded. “I would never ask you to do something you weren’t comfortable with. I’m just so damn g
lad that being near me doesn’t scare you to death anymore, baby.”
Kate thought about pointing out that he was still a pretty huge and scary guy but decided not to. Rone had gone out of his way to protect her again and again since the first moment they met in the mall. She knew by now that he wouldn’t hurt her—at least, not physically. Emotionally might be another matter but she would have to cope with her own wariness later. For now, at least the Pool had done half of what they had come for.
“I still wish I could remember the last three years,” she said with a sigh.
“You will…eventually. But first you and your mate have much work to do,” Madam Shadow said. “Come.”
Still smoking her long, black cigarette, she turned on her six inch heels and walked briskly out of the room that held the Pool of Purification.
“Wait—I need to wash off and get dressed!” Kate was gathering up her clothes, trying not to get too much slime on them. She didn’t have a change with her since they hadn’t expected to have to stay at Flame and Frost very long.
“You will have an opportunity to do that later,” Madam Shadow called over her shoulder. She was walking so quickly that Kate had to half-run to keep up with her. Clutching her clothes to her, despite the slime, she tried to hide her nakedness. She hoped desperately that they didn’t run into any other couples who were here at the resort for therapy. She’d never felt more dirty or naked or gross in her entire life and she didn’t want anyone else to see her this way.
Rone strode along beside her, having no trouble at all keeping up with the Madam’s long strides, Kate saw enviously. He, too, was covered in the black slime of the pool but it ended on mid chest for him, leaving his shoulders and neck and hair clear of the stuff.
Though she felt incredibly grimy herself, Kate thought the big Kindred didn’t look half bad. The black stuff outlined his washboard abs, making him look like a commercial for some kind of rough, manly sport played in the mud. She wondered if the black goop had seeped into the tight leather flight trousers he wore and found herself eyeing them—the crotch especially for some reason.
Rone caught the direction of her stare and looked down at himself, then back up at her quizzically as if to say, What? Kate looked away hastily, her cheeks flaming.
We both need a shower, she told herself firmly. And that’s all that needs to be said about that. She concentrated on following Madam Shadow through the twisting maze of stone corridors they were traversing and kept her eyes strictly to herself.
At last they arrived at the entrance to a large deep purple bubble like the ones in the upper part of the building. Kate could see in because there was a rounded archway in the hall leading into it with no door in the way.
“Here we are,” Madam Shadow said, making a gesture with her cigarette which was still burning. “Go in.”
Kate went through the rounded doorway quickly, glad to be out of the very public hallway and Rone followed her.
“Very good,” the Madam nodded in apparent approval—the first they had gotten from her—as soon as both of them were inside the purple bubble. She didn’t follow them in, though. Instead, she stood on the threshold and spoke through the archway. “Are you comfortable?”
“Um…I guess so.” Looking around, Kate saw that the bubble was furnished as a kind of efficiency apartment—in fact, it reminded her of the one she’d lived in while in college. In one corner—if a bubble could be said to have a corner— was a kitchen area complete with a stove, countertop, sink, and refrigerator. In another was a bed that looked to be somewhere between queen-sized and full. A third corner was a sort of living area with a small loveseat, some bookshelves, and a vidscreen. The fourth corner was closed off—presumably it was a bathroom. At least, Kate hoped it was.
“What is this place?” Rone demanded. He was also looking around and frowning.
“Is this where we’re supposed to take a shower?” Kate asked.
“This, my dear Warrior, is where the two of you will be staying for the foreseeable future,” Madam Shadow answered crisply. She looked at Kate. “And yes, there are shower facilities, although I am afraid you will be unable to use them unless you cooperate with your mate, there.”
“What? What are you talking about? We’re not staying here,” Rone growled.
“And what do you mean, cooperate?” Kate asked. She could feel a lump of anxiety growing in her stomach like a cube made of ice.
“You are staying here,” Madam Shadow insisted coolly. “You will not be able to leave until you have found the harmony you lost.”
“What? What does that even mean?” The lump of ice in Kate’s stomach had turned from a cube into a block and it threatened to freeze her with uncertainty and fear.
“It means exactly what I said.” The Madam gave them a level stare. “Now listen to me because I do not have any more time to waste on you and I will only say this once—this is a bubble of cooperation and harmony. Each item within it will work only if you are cooperating with each other.”
“Cooperating? How? In what way?” Kate demanded, feeling more panicked every minute.
“In every way, my dear.” The Madam blew another puff of smoke. “You will remain thirsty unless you drink from your lover’s hands. You will remain hungry unless you take the food from his fingers. You will not be able to sit upon the couch unless you are touching him—the bed will not support you unless your bodies are entwined. Oh, and one more thing…” She looked Kate up and down and sniffed distastefully. “No hand but his may wash that dreadful slime from your skin. Likewise, no hand but yours may cleanse him as well. And now, if there are no more questions, I must go.” And she turned on her heel and left.
“Wait! Who said there were no more questions?” Kate rushed forward, meaning to go out of the bubble and follow the Madam of Shadows, who was already retreating, down the stone hall. But when she got to the archway, she found she couldn’t pass through it. “What is this?” she asked out loud, putting her hands out and pushing to no avail. “It’s another invisible barrier. How do they do that?”
“What?” Rone came up behind her and pressed too, pushing with all his might. But they might as well have been pushing against a wall of invisible bricks—there was no way to get out of the bubble and back into the corridor outside.
They were trapped.
Chapter Fifteen
“Oh my God,” Kate whispered, wrapping her arms around herself. “Oh my God—I can’t believe this!”
Rone found it pretty unbelievable himself. It wasn’t that he minded being someplace where he had to spend time with his mate—in fact, there was nothing he would rather do. But he objected to being forced into it and he didn’t like anything that made Kate feel uncomfortable—which she clearly was.
“What are we going to do?” she asked, looking up at him. “This is crazy, Rone! She didn’t even tell us how long we’d be stuck here.”
“Yes, she did,” he growled. “She said we’d stay here until we regained our lost harmony—whatever that means.”
“It means we’re trapped,” Kate said softly. “For now, at least. So what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know about you, but I want to get cleaned up.” Rone looked down at himself distastefully. He wasn’t as completely coated in the black slime as Kate was, but he still had enough of it on him that he was making black boot prints on the floor. He took a moment to pull the boots off and leave them by the door and then padded barefoot into the closed area of the bubble which he hoped was the bathing and fresher area.
Sure enough, there was a freestanding tub, a large shower, and a sink and toilet in this area. Good.
Rone turned the tap on the sink, half expecting there to be no water since he wasn’t “cooperating” with Kate to turn it on. But to his surprise and pleasure, a clear stream of water came rushing out of the faucet and into the basin. He stuck his large hands under the flow but though he felt the clear water rushing over his skin, nothing happened. Frowning, he rubbed at t
he slime with no result. He could feel the water but it wasn’t doing him any good.
Thinking that he needed hotter water to get the job done, Rone twisted the hot tap until clouds of steam were rising from the sink. But though he got the water hot enough to feel like it was peeling the flesh off his bones, it didn’t melt even the tiniest bit of the slime off his skin. Using soap didn’t help either. Nothing he did removed even a fraction of the gooey black stuff.
Desperately, Rone grabbed for one of the hand towels on a rack by the sink and rubbed—with no result. His hands seemed to be permanently stained.
“Damn it!” he heard Kate’s voice say from the other room, as he turned off the taps in defeat. He walked out to see her standing at the kitchen sink, scrubbing her hands with a brush that was clearly meant for cleaning pots and pans.
“Kate, be careful.” He went to her quickly. “You’ll hurt yourself—the bristles on that damn thing aren’t for using on your skin. You’ll scrape yourself raw!”
She looked up at him and he saw tears of frustration standing in her clear green eyes.
“It won’t come off. No matter what I do. It won’t come off.”
Rone sighed. “I know what you mean—I had the same problem.” He held out his hands, still covered in the thick black slime.
“I hate this—I hate to be dirty like this,” she exploded. “I feel so…so disgusting.”
Rone thought she had never looked lovelier. Though she was coated from head to foot in the black stuff, she was naked under it. She was still clutching her discarded clothes against her chest but he could still see most of her. Her petite body had full curves he longed to caress again but he knew she wouldn’t be comfortable with letting him touch her that way. Still, maybe there was something he could do since she no longer feared his hands on her.
“Let me try,” he said gently, stepping up beside her at the sink and holding out his hands.
“Try what?” She drew away from him mistrustfully.
“Just washing your hands,” Rone said, trying to make his voice soft and non-threatening. “That’s all, baby, I swear. Remember, Madam Shadow said no hand but mine would get you clean.”