What had happened to Reese? He'd glimpsed damage in her mind that had been there for many years. Long enough that she should have healed emotionally. Why hadn't she?
Who am I to wonder?
He'd been to powerful monks who had helped him repair his mind more than once. They'd tried to help him after Kizira died, but they'd told him it was not his mind that needed healing, but his heart.
They might be right in theory, but why should his heart heal when Kizira's never would?
He'd stuffed his emotions into a deep hole so he could function when Tzader and his tribe needed him.
Why did having Reese in his arms stir up all those emotions he'd shoved out of the way?
I'm a Maistir. I can handle holding a woman in a professional context.
He was doing just fine with that until Reese curled toward him, clutching his body and murmuring, "Missed this."
Those words struck a tender note. Finally looking down at the contentment in a face that had, up until now, worn a scowl as default, he knew without any question that she had not been held this way in a long time.
When was the last time he'd had a chance to hold someone in a quiet moment?
If holding Reese brought her peace even for this short time, he could do it and ignore the dark gremlins climbing around in his head.
This strange woman had exploded into his world and stirred things inside him. Forced him to question things.
One minute he was angry over Kizira's lack of trust and the next he cursed himself for not deserving that trust.
His mind had been a wasteland since losing Kizira. He should have protected her and he'd spent hours asking himself why he hadn't. What man deserved a woman if he couldn't keep her safe?
The truth was that he'd never deserved her love.
He didn't deserve anyone's love, and dreaded the moment he had to face his daughter and explain why she'd never see her mother again. But even that fear would not stop him from finding her and keeping her safe.
Reese mumbled again and snuggled even closer.
When she opened her eyes and smiled up at him, it was like looking into sunshine.
That lasted two seconds.
She realized where she was and shoved off his lap.
He grunted when an elbow almost unmanned him. "Good goddess! Careful!"
"What the hell?" She backed up a step.
"Not the appreciation I was expecting," he groused, getting to his feet. Her look of repulsion took care of his momentary insanity.
For a moment, Reese seemed at a loss, then literally shook her head, muttering, "Can't go there." Her gaze jumped all over the place. "What are we doing in here? Where are the demons?"
"They turned into ash after I killed them. I brought you in here so you could heal where I could better protect you from an attack."
She cast a wary glance around, like a cornered animal. She ran her fingers through her wild hair and asked, "Did you do something to, uh, heal me?"
"Yes, but before you go ballistic on me, I did not touch anything in your mind except the area that called up your healing. I pulled the poison out, so you shouldn't have any residual problems."
"That's right. I remember."
She'd lost her ball cap in the attack, and now kept moving her hands over her face and hair, flustered. Then she finally, grudgingly, said, "Thank you."
Quinn caught himself before laughing at her. She was an odd mix. "You're welcome. Why are demons hunting you if you're a demon?"
"I never said I was a demon. In fact, I've said several times now that I'm not one."
"I stand corrected, but what about--"
She held up her hand. "You writing a book on me? If so, leave out that chapter and call it a mystery."
"You're a regular comedienne."
"I don't find any of this funny, starting with you holding my medallion hostage when I did nothing to harm any of your people. You suspect me of being involved with those men and that demon. I am not and therefore I shouldn't be treated like a criminal."
He hated that she had a point, but every instinct he had warned him to trust his suspicions, and not her.
She crossed her arms. "Do you want me to look for the missing tomb or not? If you do, I need my medallion back."
Give up the only hold he had over her? Not a chance.
If she wanted to be all business, that worked for Quinn. It helped tamp down his ridiculous and unprofessional need to protect her. She'd offered to help him locate the tomb in exchange for the medallion. If, after giving him information, he decided she'd done her part and proven no threat to anyone, then he'd hand it over.
Quinn lifted the leather thong with the medallion from his pocket.
Her eyes lit up.
He doused that excitement when he said, "You can touch it, but it stays in my possession."
"Why? I'll be right in front of you."
"That's just it. I'm not sure you won't disappear right in front of me. Other than your admission to having demon blood in your ancestry, we still don't know what you are, what you're capable of or why you were in the middle of a fight with those men this morning. Want to enlighten me some more?"
Her face locked down tight, sharing nothing. She spun around, then walked out of the mausoleum into a mild shower preventing anything from drying out.
He closed the entrance to the small building and followed her over to the empty plot.
Stepping into the center, she sat on the wet ground with crossed legs and ordered, "Hold the medallion where I can touch it."
Quinn moved closer, and held the medallion out in front of her. Would she tell him the truth if she found the tomb?
He reminded her, "You don't get this back until I can see or put my hands on the tomb."
She arched a challenging eyebrow at him. "Then what's your concern?"
What was bothering him about her?
That he had yet to figure out what she was doing in Atlanta and his gut kept screaming at him that it was a mistake to gain her help this way.
He had no other option and lowered the pendant to her eye level, warning, "Don't try to pull any tricks. You won't like what happens to anyone who interferes with my finding this tomb."
Chapter 21
The pendant turned slowly in front of Reese's face.
Could she break his hold and escape with it?
Maybe she could from other beings, but she'd seen this one use his mind to kill a demon and doubted she could outrun that mind before he latched onto hers.
Bad gamble if she lost and Quinn saw what she hid in her thoughts.
Evidently, since he hadn't intruded earlier, this man had a personal code for using his mind lock ability, which was the only thing protecting her from an unexpected mental invasion.
Before she reached for the medallion, she said, "I need it lower so that my arms stay relaxed."
He tied a knot in one end of the broken cord, preventing the medallion from falling off, and lowered it another few inches.
Getting settled, she instructed him, "You can ask me questions while I'm under, but don't touch me or you'll break my trance."
"Understood." Quinn squatted in front of her and allowed enough slack for the medallion to drop into her open hand.
She closed her fingers around the disk, and felt her energy surge toward that hand. Now what? She had no true second sight gift, not like her mother's. Reese's remote viewing had happened when she least expected it. If Yaahl expected her to bring Kizira's body back, this medallion had better do its part now.
Shutting her eyes, Reese fell into the native language of her mother's people, the one that Yaahl spoke. He'd hear. He was too much of a busybody not to, but the question was, would he help or choose to ignore her?
"With open heart, I call to you, O Great Spirit
Hear these words, my humble voice.
As the raven soars to touch the heavens
I seek your vision to guide my own."
She kept calling out to Yaahl,
asking for his help in locating the body of Kizira. As she did, she fell into a trance, her body swaying back and forth on its own.
Did that mean she was doing this right?
Then why couldn't she see anything but a blurry image?
She tried to focus in her inner vision. Light grew in the middle of a foggy place, then an opening burned away in the center of the mist to show ... a tent in the woods.
What the heck?
Someone said, "Any word from the woman's son yet?"
"No."
Reese strained to see who spoke and what was positioned around the tent. Her mind pulled back to see more and a fire pit came into view, the logs blackened from burning. This was not helping.
Was Yaahl jerking her around again?
She turned her head and ... her scope of vision shifted to show two men facing each other.
First guy was tall and strong looking. Short, black hair, square chin, and mean eyes. He grabbed his neck. "We can't stay here after tonight."
"We'll be gone before daylight, Lor."
"Not if we don't find how to open that tomb in time."
Her heart raced. The tomb.
The second guy was average height, dark complexion, and not in the best shape. His dull gray eyes shifted to the right.
Reese moved her head in the same direction.
There was a structure that looked like a tomb to her. It sat on the other side of the campfire. Unless taking one of those on a camping trip was standard, that tomb had to be Kizira's. Reese studied the ornate carving on the corners and the estimated size so Quinn could confirm this was the correct one.
Wait a minute. Why would she tell Quinn where it is when she needed to deliver that body to Yaahl?
Her conscience niggled at her that she didn't know Quinn's reason for wanting this tomb and she'd given her word to help him find it. Just because he hadn't invaded her mind didn't mean his plans took precedence over hers.
He might have just as mercenary a reason for wanting Kizira's body as the men who now possessed it.
The one called Lor jerked her attention back to him when he shouted, "That damn thing is useless unless we figure out how to open it."
His sidekick tried to calm him. "Don't worry. When they find the note, they'll bring that Belador and we'll be set."
She stuck her head forward and forced the image to open wider to show two tents and the tomb positioned around the cold fire pit.
She pulled back to widen the view even more and saw men who reminded her of the four she'd encountered with Quinn's people this morning. There looked to be at least twenty at the camp.
Someone standing to the side suggested, "Why can't you crack it open?"
"It's a sealed tomb. I was told not to let anyone touch it. The damned thing is believed to be rigged. Might kill anyone who tries to open it except the person who closed it."
"I say we capitalize on this opportunity."
"I don't have time for harebrained plans," the rough voice of Lor argued. "I need that body in hand before the Belador Quinn has to hand it over at the Tribunal. We have until four in the morning. It can't leave this realm unsealed. I want that body."
"We'll be fine. We--"
Someone outside of her range of vision shouted something about Caldwell.
What?
Lor looked straight at her.
Shit. Had she said that out loud?
He yelled, "Shut up everyone! I sense something."
Reese froze, holding her breath. They couldn't see her, right?
Lor watched someone out of her view and said, "Someone is watching us."
Out of nowhere, spikes of pain attacked her head and her vision went black.
The pain shot through her like hot pokers in her eyes.
She grabbed her head and rolled over, screaming.
All at once, a soothing balm flushed through her mind and Reese let go of her head, letting her arms flop to each side of where she lay on her back.
She opened her eyes and stared up into worried, crystal-blue ones. Yes, she could breathe again, but at what cost? Had Quinn entered her mind? "What'd you do?"
"I put my hands over yours and blocked anything from touching your head."
"Oh."
"I don't enter anyone's mind without permission unless there is a life on the line."
"Ok. Thanks. Again." She took the hand he offered to get to her feet. He had some kind of crazy power when it came to minds. She dusted herself off, stalling for time more than anything.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"I'm good." Not really, but she'd shake it off and get a grip any minute now. What should she tell him?
Might as well tell him the truth since she had no idea how to find the body and needed his resources.
"I saw a tomb-like structure eight feet tall and ten feet wide." She described the carved corners.
"That's the one." His face brightened with hope again.
She didn't want to see that. It made her feel like she was stealing from him. How could that be when the body didn't belong to him? But the guys in the vision said something about Quinn taking the body to a Tribunal to hand it off.
The Medb weren't allowed to be in VIPER the last time Reese had been here, so it sounded like Quinn was handing off Kizira to people who had no claim to her.
Okay, feeling better now.
But if she told Quinn everything, he'd leave without her to go find it.
What'd I ever do to the universe to get this life?
Stop blaming the world for your past, Reese.
Get out of my head, Yaahl.
She wouldn't admit it to Yaahl, but he was right. She'd given Quinn a hard time since meeting him and he'd been nothing but polite. Okay, surly at times, but mostly that was her own doing.
He asked, "What else did you figure out?"
"Trees. Mountains. Nothing distinct. A campsite with two tents and the tomb." She sorted through the rest of her information and said, "There were at least twenty of those men like you fought this morning."
He stared off as if lost in thought.
Did this mean the ongoing Belador-Medb fight was tied to this missing tomb? Yaahl could have told her there was a war in progress for Kizira's body.
But no, he'd just dropped her in the middle of it.
She'd like to assign a noble reason for his action, such as the Raven giving her a helping hand by putting her in the best place for information, but come on. When she'd considered that earlier, it had to have been the demon poison turning her mind to mush. She was fairly sure Yaahl found it entertaining to dump her ass in the middle of this mess.
"Anything else?" Quinn asked.
"Two men were talking." She described what they looked like. "They're waiting on someone to show up and open the tomb."
Ah, he showed a flicker of interest at that.
She kept explaining, "It sounded like the tomb might be booby trapped." She waited, but he said nothing, which made her think he wasn't surprised. "Aren't you concerned about them opening that tomb?"
"No."
Okay, that meant he either knew how to open it or knew the person who could, which just complicated her world. She might need Quinn with her when she found the tomb. That would also complicate her escape plan with the body, which she had yet to formulate.
Just to make sure he didn't leave her locked up while he went hunting, she said, "I'll give this another try and see if I can find out more."
"No."
"Why not?" She debated sharing more, but said, "I think they said something about a Belador having to take Kizira to a Tribunal." She was not admitting that she'd heard Quinn's name unless he started giving up more info. "Is there some deadline coming up?"
"Yes."
"Don't you care about the Belador who needs the body?"
"I'm the one who has to produce it, and very soon." He completely threw her out of step when he said, "I'm not going to put you at additional risk for my gain. It doesn't work that way."
"It normally does with the men I know." She snapped her lips shut. She hadn't intended to say so much.
"Perhaps you should choose your men more wisely. Let's go."
He turned to leave. She called out, "Hey."
The face he turned on her said how little he thought of someone yelling "Hey" at him. "What?"
"You still don't know where the tomb is. We had a deal and I need my medallion. I'm still willing to stick to my part, but I can't do this if you don't help."
Rain ran in streaks down his perfect face, which had lost some of the cold emptiness from when she'd first met him. Instead he watched her as if conflicted over his thoughts.
That was different.
Usually by now she would've managed to annoy someone to the point they were too irritated to hide their thoughts from her.
Quinn might just be a master of facial expressions.
His eyes hardly moved from her, but she had no doubt he'd been constantly sweeping his surroundings since the demon attacks. He finally said, "I do need to find the tomb, but remaining here longer would not be prudent."
"Where'd you learn to talk with your head up your ass?" That should make this guy lose that icy control and put them back on equal footing as adversaries. She could not allow herself to like the enemy.
"Does that work for you?" he asked.
"What?"
"Insulting people to keep them at a distance?" He glanced around once and said, "I'm not putting you at further risk. You got what you could. We're done here."
She felt like one of Gibbons's fertilizer piles.
Perhaps you should choose your men more wisely.
Quinn's words struck deep. She'd chosen poorly and now she was taking it out on Quinn, who was being pretty decent to her.
He was making her regret what she'd have to do, which was stick with him to track down the tomb, then vanish.
With the tomb.
Chapter 22
Tristan crept through southeast Atlanta mud, up toward a hangar structure forty yards away. It should be empty, based on the overgrown five acres for sale around the building. He could think of a lot of better ways to spend a Saturday night, but at least the nonstop rain had done the unbelievable and, finally, stopped. He welcomed the chill in the air.
He muttered, "Your buddy Grady better be right about this."
Evalle slogged through the muddy grass next to him. "Have you ever met a Nightstalker with intel as dependable as what I get from Grady?"
"Can't say that I have, but the benchmark isn't that high to begin with when it comes to ghouls."