Malice In Wonderland

  I brought my hands up to his chest and pushed him away, breaking the seal of our lips as he stared down at me in surprise. "Stop," I said weakly. "We can't do this."

  "Dulcie, if it feels right," he started.

  I shook my head. "It doesn't feel right." As I met his eyes, I could see the hurt in their depths as he seemed to realize things hadn't changed between us, that our kiss didn't mean I forgave him for everything that happened before. "There's too much baggage between us."

  I was beginning to wonder if this was going to be a repeat of the last time we found ourselves alone on an empty stretch of road with only the Denali for company. Would Knight be able to restrain himself? What was more, would I be able to restrain myself? As it was, my self-control was hanging by a thin thread. But one thing I knew for sure was that I would never allow myself to have angry sex with Knight again. The pain and guilt afterwards were just too much.

  "I don't want what happened last time," I started but he interrupted me.

  "That will never happen again," he said sharply and I could see the self-loathing in his eyes at the mere memory of it. It was clearly evident that Knight hated himself for what happened. I could see as much in his eyes; he couldn't accept knowing that he lost control of himself and took advantage not only of the situation, but also of me.

  Without another word, he pulled away from me, even taking two steps back, as if to assure me that nothing more would happen. His eyes were still glowing, and clouded over with naked desire. It was taking all of my self-control not to surrender to him, and allow him to claim me. Even now my body was begging for it. The yearning deep within me had grown into an endless stinging—something that was becoming painful. Basically, my brain was in an all-out war with my body.

  Knight shut his eyes tightly and took another few steps from me.

  "Get in the car," he said gruffly, sparing me the need to question him as he quickly continued. "I can sense you, Dulcie, everything you're ... you're feeling and ... you're not making things easy on me."

  No more explanation was necessary. I completely got his gist. Apparently, this was yet another of his Loki abilities: sensing my desire for him. Maybe he could somehow smell my pheromones or something similar. I could see that whatever it was that he was picking up on, was taking every ounce of his fortitude to resist. As much as I'd been wrestling with my own needs, Knight was doing the same. Judging by his pinched lip expression, his battle was much more difficult than mine was.

  He glanced up at me and as his eyes met mine, they glowed fiercely white. He immediately dropped his head and rubbed his eyes. It was as if he was trying to rub the glow right out of them. When he looked over at me again, his eyes were back to their brilliant blue, with only a few specks of white. He took a few deep breaths, his already broad chest inflating until he looked unbelievably large. After exhaling, and apparently regaining control of himself, he faced me again.

  "I'm sorry," he started. Then he seemed to be at a loss, making no motion to do anything.

  I nodded my acceptance to his apology, and suddenly felt the urge to sit down. I hurried to the passenger side of the Denali, throwing myself into my seat as I wrapped my arms around my chest and berated myself for losing control. I couldn't look at Knight. Instead, I focused on my knees as they nervously bounced. From the periphery of my vision, I watched Knight settling himself into his seat. He closed his door and turned the heat up as high as it would go. My guilt, confusion, and anger with myself all made me forget that I was freezing cold until the heat enveloped me.

  "Dulce," he started.

  "No," I interrupted. "Let's just pretend that never happened."

  He cleared his throat and sighed, putting the SUV in drive and starting forward. Evidently, the scanner had opened some sort of portal or passageway because as soon as we drove past the pine tree, which housed the scanner, there was a popping sound and the terrain completely changed. Instead of miles and miles of flat, open land, we were suddenly in the center of a city.

  "We're going to have to talk about things, Dulcie," Knight said. "If we're going to continue working together ..."

  "As far as I'm concerned, nothing happened," I answered with steel resolve. "There are way bigger things on the horizon for us to worry about. Whatever is going on between you and me isn't important right now, Knight," I finished, suddenly realizing how icy my words sounded.

  His lips were tight, but his eyes burned. "Understood."

  Although I wanted to tell him that I didn't really mean that our situation was unimportant, I couldn't bring myself to utter the words. I just didn't possess the wherewithal, or the energy, or whatever the hell it was to allow me to open up. Instead I gazed outside my window, losing myself in the cityscape, the blaring of loud horns, and the flickering of skyscraper lights. The gentle hum in my ears told me there was a freeway somewhere close by.

  SIX

  “Shit, we’re late,” Knight said as he led me down a long hallway with white linoleum floors that terminated in two steel doors. The building was in the center of the city, but just what city I didn't have a clue. And, apparently, Knight wasn't about to tell me anytime soon since keeping it secret was "protocol." Judging by the intense traffic and the number of people scurrying to and fro in the city streets, I had to imagine we weren't anywhere near Splendor or the vicinity.

  But back to this building, there were twenty-two floors and we took the elevator to floor fourteen. What I found interesting was that although there were twenty-two floors, it didn't seem as if the building was occupied. There were no lights on in any of the windows and the whole thing had an unkempt feeling of neglect to it, with cobwebs in the windows, peeling paint and dust covering everything. Once we reached the fourteenth floor, the elevator spat us out into the dank hallway, which smelled like mildew. I immediately noticed two guards, standing in front of each door. They were tall, almost as tall as Knight and nearly as broad. Both were armed with Zoobs, something akin to a machine gun, only these were packed full of dragon blood bullets: instant death to any Netherworlders.

  At our approach, each of the guards saluted Knight and started to step aside, ostensibly to grant him entrance through the double steel doors. Once their eyes landed on me, however, they hesitated.

  “She’s with me,” Knight grumbled as he reached behind, grabbing my upper arm, and yanking me forward as if to prove it. "She's already passed security."

  The guards just nodded as one of them reached over and opened the door nearest him. The other did the same, but added a licentious smile right after he checked me out from bust to butt and back up again.

  "Thanks," I said acidly as I walked through the doors, now faced with an incredibly large and mostly vacant room. The ceilings had to be twenty feet high; and the stained glass windows emitted fragments of light from the skyscrapers across the way, giving it a churchy sort of feel. Knight started forward, his heavy footsteps sounding like thunder against the ancient, dusty hardwood floors. I brought my gaze down from the ceiling and focused on the conference table in the center of the room. Six people sat around the table, and at our entrance, all of them glanced over at us. I immediately recognized Christina at the head of the table and … Dia sitting just beside her?

  “Dia?” I asked out loud as I approached the table, my surprise obvious by my tone.

  “Hi, girl,” she responded with a little laugh, pulling out the chair next to her, and patting it encouragingly. “Funny meeting you here.”

  I immediately took the proffered seat, not waiting for Knight to offer me one. “What are you doing here?” I whispered. "Did you just get recruited or something?"

  Dia laughed as she shook her head. “No, no. I've been a council member of The Resistance for a few months. I just couldn't tell you, especially in front of everyone else. We’re top secret, you know?"

  "Yeah, I know," I muttered, frowning as I attempted to piece together the latest revelation that Dia was part of this team. "I thought you lived on Compound One? Your room
is right down the hall from mine?"

  She nodded. "Yep, I live on base. I stay in the mix for intel and security reasons."

  I took a deep breath as the surprise inside of me started to fade away and curiosity over what was soon to unfold took over. I glanced around the table, wondering if there might be any other surprises awaiting me. But I didn't recognize anyone else. Sitting at the opposite head of the table, and beside me, was a man. He was older, maybe in his early fifties, and based on my itchy palms, I could detect that he was a Drow.

  Drows were in the same family as elves, but where most elves were known for doing good, Drows were known for just the opposite. They were generally regarded to be nefarious in all their dealings so I was pretty surprised to see one sitting here. Similar to their elf cousins, Drows were generally tall and slender and dignified looking with pale skin. This one was dressed in black slacks and a deep purple sweater, which complemented the lavender hue of the dark circles beneath his navy blue eyes.

  Knight took the seat on the Drow's other side as he offered Christina an apologetic smile. "Sorry we're late," he said.

  Sitting next to Knight was a woman I also didn't recognize. It took me a second or two to place her heritage, but then it hit me over the head like an anvil. She was a nymph. Nymphs shared the same lineage as fairies—they even had the same pointy ears. And just like my own kind, nymphs were also associated with nature, mainly streams and rivers. But there were also land nymphs and this woman was of the land variety—I could tell by the brown roots of her hair (the rest of her hair was aqua blue). Water nymphs were either blond or redheads. Nymphs were definitely magically inclined but usually only when they were in the natural environment because they had to draw their power from natural resources. Nymphs and fairies alike were always famed for our youth, vitality and good looks, and this woman didn't contradict that reputation. She was young--in her mid to late twenties, if I had to guess--and very pretty with her mahogany brown eyes and short, bobbed hair. The only thing that distracted from her nymph mold was her striking aqua hair. Interesting.

  “No problem. We waited for you both,” Christina answered, seemingly not in the least fazed. She cleared her throat and smiled at everyone around the table.

  “Who’s the new addition?" the Drow asked while glaring at me as if I were rude and should have already introduced myself. I returned his glare, finding him less than endearing.

  “Dulcie, why don’t you do your own honors?” Christina said with her eyebrows raised in a rendition of "good luck."

  I nodded, getting her gist, and took a deep breath as I glanced around the table. All eyes were on me and the only friendly ones belonged to Dia, Knight, and Christina. “I’m Dulcie ... O’Neil.”

  The nymph sucked in the air so loudly, she sounded like she was choking, while the Drow said nothing. But his silence definitely wasn't an indication of his disinterest. Instead, his cheeks were well on their way to turning a deep shade of crimson and the tips of his ears already resembled a third degree burn. No one said a word, though, so I just leaned back into my seat and waited for someone to speak, presumably after they made the connection between Melchior and me.

  “Seriously?" the nymph started, dragging her angry eyes from Christina to me. "Christina, you didn’t tell us about this." Once her gaze settled on me, she appeared to get even angrier and maybe I was just imagining it but it seemed her hair turned a darker shade of teal.

  “This is an abomination!" the Drow yelled out at last. He slammed his bony fist into the top of the table for emphasis, his skeletal fingers so rickety, I half wondered if they might shatter. "She is our enemy!"

  "Hey, don't soil your panties," I started, holding my hands up in mock surrender. "I'm not working for my father."

  “What the hell? I thought we agreed to discuss this, Christina?" the nymph barked out, clearly uninterested in whatever I had to say. She refused to remove her furious and condemning gaze, just continued glaring at me as if she thought I might melt into my seat, and drip through the floorboards toward certain escape.

  "Y'all are overreacting," Dia started, shaking her head as she held out her manicured hands in a mock display of surrender. I glanced at Knight and found him leaning back into his seat with a smile on his sumptuous lips as if he were enjoying himself ... the bastard.

  "She's ... she's his daughter!" the Drow shrieked in response to Dia's comment, his mouth hanging open and his lips shivering with outrage.

  “First of all,” I started, standing up when I decided I'd had enough. I smacked both my palms onto the table and leaned over, alternately staring at the Drow and the nymph. “I’m sitting right here so I’d appreciate it if you called me by my name. And, speaking of my name, which seems to offend you so much, I’m related to my father in name only.”

  “You worked for your father,” the nymph piped up accusatorily.

  “Caressa confirmed Dulcie’s innocence,” Christina said in a tone that brooked no arguments. Her lips were pressed in a straight line, which matched the line of her eyebrows. “Caressa’s word is good enough for me.”

  “It’s good enough for me, too,” Dia said in a steely voice. "I can vouch for Dulcie's credibility."

  “It should be good enough for all of you,” Knight said, finally coming to my defense. And it was about damn time. He leaned forward and eyed the two naysayers coldly. His eyes were narrowed and his jaw was tight, giving him a daunting appearance by anyone’s count. “I’ve worked with Dulcie and I know her well. She’s an absolute asset to our mission.”

  “The Loki’s got that right,” Dia said in a stern voice, nodding her head in a most diva-like manner. “Anyone who’s gotta problem with my girl’s gotta problem with me.” Then she held her chin up and crossed her arms against her ample chest. "And trust me when I say that you don't wanta have a problem with me."

  "Amen to that," Knight said with a flirty smile in Dia's direction.

  “Thanks, D,” I whispered and glanced at her with a grin. Yep, it was definitely a good thing to have Dia Diva Robinson in my corner. I relaxed and sat back in my seat.

  “I got your back,” Dia whispered in response as she winked, offering the same wink to Knight only this time there was something sexy about it. Sigh.

  "Anything else you want to say?" Knight asked, spearing the Drow and the nymph with his ferocious stare.

  "We should have been consulted," the Drow grumbled, but dropped his eyes once Knight's gaze landed on him. It was pretty obvious that Knight intimidated everyone.

  "Sometimes, I don't have time to consult all of you. Sometimes, decisions have to be made," Christina responded defensively after pausing for a few seconds. "Anyway, we're moving on from this now," she finished with a glance at the Drow. "Dulcie, this is Fagan. He's in charge of The Resistance soldiers."

  "Pleased to meet you," I said with a wide and artificial smile. He grumbled something unintelligible, refusing to so much as look at me. I glanced up at Christina and shrugged but she seemed uninterested. Instead, she faced the nymph who was sitting beside her.

  "And this is Erica Comacho. She's in charge of the relocation efforts and the safety of all our people."

  I smiled at Erica and was surprised when she nodded in response and offered me a succinct smile, mumbling: "C'est la vie."

  Christina glanced down at Dia. "And you are well acquainted with our diva, I see?"

  I laughed, amused that Dia's diva-bility seemed to follow her wherever she went, like a shadow, only way cooler. "I am."

  "Dia is in charge of recruiting any magically sentient creatures to our cause so we can utilize their abilities," Christina continued. It was a good role for Dia to play because as a Somnogobelinus, or sleep goblin, she was magically sentient herself, being able to invade people's dreams.

  "And what are you in charge of?" I reluctantly asked Knight with a frown. We'd made the rounds and he was the only one left and it was glaringly evident that he was waiting for me to ask him that exact question.

&n
bsp; "Knight is second in command," Christina responded, granting him a proud smile. "I don't know what I would do without him."

  I couldn't say I enjoyed knowing Knight was teacher's pet—mainly because it just gave him another reason to be so damned smug all the time. "Looks like a good team you've got assembled here," I said, returning my attention to Christina.

  "It's better now," she responded with another broad smile. "We're happy to have you on board."

  Well that seemed to be debatable, but I wasn't in the mood to argue. "Thanks," I managed.

  “Now that introductions are done, we’ve got lots to discuss," Christina continued, referring to a notebook sitting on the table in front of her. It was covered in scribble. She faced the nymph. "Erica, any word on the portals?”

  Erica nodded. “Yeah, everything is still secure. There haven’t been any breaches.”

  Christina nodded and seemed pleased with the information. “Have there been any recent attempts?”

  “At Miller’s Crossing there was a small uprising by a group of O’Neil supporters who somehow managed to slip under our radar." Erica dropped her eyes to her fidgeting hands and didn't seem especially happy to be the bearer of this news.

  "What were they attempting?" Knight asked, spearing her with his disappointed expression.

  "They were trying to break through our portal so they could return to the Netherworld," Erica answered. Seeing the raised eyebrows and frowns around the table, she quickly added, "Anyway, the uprising was stopped almost immediately.”

  “Was anyone killed or injured?” Christina persisted, the look of someone concerned.

  Erica shook her head. “No one was killed. The worst injury was a broken arm. Other than that, we took the bad dudes into custody and they're now in prison at Compound Five." She cleared her throat and added. "That was the only incident where any portals were threatened; and our response was swift and successful and...basically awesome.” She definitely had some sort of So Cal girl flair about her.