“Just what we need in the world—another demon lord with weapons of mass destruction,” Jim grumbled. I glared at it. It grinned back at me.
“The likelihood is that the fire was a form of retaliation,” Drake added thoughtfully, watching the firemen poke around the remains of the building.
“The imps?” I asked, my stomach going sour at the thought.
He nodded. “I do not believe that would be out of their scope of retribution. Do you agree, Nora?”
“Absolutely.” She hugged Paco’s carrier even tighter. “Fires are second nature to common European imps. It is one of their favorite weapons. Given the nature of that…er…blow against them, they would have lost no time in mobilizing a response that targeted Aisling.”
“All the more reason for you to cease being stubborn,” Drake told me. “Come, mate. You have been on your feet too long. The question of where you will live is now moot. You will live with me.”
“No,” I said, stepping back so he couldn’t grab me. Two fire trucks and an ambulance left, the crowd of people watching the mopping-up process thinning as the excitement ended. “Nora and I are in this together. I’m not going to leave her, especially not now, after everything she owns has been destroyed because of me.”
Drake sent a little smile Nora’s way. “Naturally, Nora will have a place in my home, as well. I shall see that everything possible is replaced. It is not my intention to separate you, kincsem.”
I looked at him, ignoring all the people and noise and general chaos around us. “It’s not? In Budapest, you wanted us apart. You didn’t want me to learn how to be a proper Guardian. You didn’t want me signing up with a mentor.”
Drake shrugged. “I changed my mind.”
“You changed…” My look turned to a finely honed glare. I couldn’t keep from whapping him on the arm as I hissed in a low voice, “You changed your mind and you didn’t tell me? I left you because you betrayed me—you refused to support my Guardian training. You great big scaly, blue-clawed dragon! You could have mentioned that you’d finally seen the light.”
“I was intending to, but you took the conversation in a direction I had not anticipated,” he answered, glancing down to my stomach.
Nora stepped closer. “I’m sorry to interrupt you two, but I cannot accept your offer, Drake. Paris is a lovely city to visit, but it is out of the question for me to live there. My portal is here, in the city. I cannot leave it unguarded.”
Drake put his hand on my back, gently pressuring me to walk forward, waving his hand for Nora to proceed. She clutched Paco’s carrier to her chest. “I understand. Although it would have made things easier if you could move to Paris, what you ask is not impossible. You may move into my home here.”
“You have a house here in England?” I asked, surprised. Drake didn’t seem like the sort of person who would be happy in England. “In London?”
“Yes. It is a family house, one I seldom use. Fortunately, the family I was letting it to has left for the Middle East. We will take possession of it immediately.”
I didn’t fail to notice the slight inflection on the “we.” “Just a minute—maybe Nora has different thoughts, or friends who can put us up until we find a place of our own. I appreciate you offering your house to us, but if it’s a family home, it’s probably too big and too expensive for the two of us.”
Nora frowned. “None of my friends has room for both of us, I’m afraid.”
“We could stay in a hotel,” I said, aware that I was throwing out objections just because Drake’s domineering manner irritated me. “Somewhere cheap.”
“You are not being reasonable,” Drake said, pushing me gently toward the car. “It would be foolish to spite yourself and Nora just because you have issues with me.”
“But—”
“The house is empty. It is large enough to house all of us in comfort but not so large it will be a strain on my resources. Nora will live there as my honored guest for as long as she desires. You are my mate. My homes are now yours. Does that eliminate all of your objections?”
He held open the car door for us. I was about to get in when a tiny piece of mortar erupted from the building next to me. I looked at it curiously for a moment, touching the tiny little crater in the stone facade. Drake swore under his breath, shoving me backwards toward the sole remaining policeman, shouting for Pál and István.
The latter leaped out of the car.
“There!” Pál shouted and quickly followed István as he raced around the corner.
“What—hey!”
“Stay with Nora,” Drake commanded, his eyes dark. He bolted after Pál and István before I could ask him what was up.
“What on earth is going…” I looked back at the damaged spot on the building, about two feet from my head. My spine stiffened as I realized I was looking at a bullet hole. Quickly I scanned the people across the street, but no one stood out as a potential sniper.
“Wow,” Jim said, putting its front paws on the building to examine the bullet hole. “Someone shot at you. You’re going up in the world. First a train, then a hit-and-run, now a sniper. I can’t wait to see what the red dragons think up next.”
“I can,” I said grimly, my hands on my hips as I spun around trying to see what it was that Drake and the bodyguards had seen. “Nora?”
“It looks like a bullet hole to me, too,” she said, peering over her glasses at the spot on the building. “What is this about the red dragons?”
“They’re at war with us. Right, I’m not going to stand for this. Come on, we’re going to find whoever shot at me and scare the crap out of them.”
“We are?” Nora looked startled.
“Damn straight we are.” I looked at Jim. “I don’t suppose you’d care to do the dog thing and sniff the path the sniper took?”
Jim rolled its eyes. “Don’t even go there.”
“OK. Then it’s up to me.” I put my hand on the wall, closing my eyes to help me focus as I opened the door in my mind.
“Aisling? What exactly do you expect us to do? Guardians are protectors, watchers of portals. We disperse beings back to Abaddon—we’re not meant to bring retribution to those who act against us.”
“I refuse to be a victim,” I told Nora, my eyes still closed as I tried to push out all the noise and distractions of the street. “We have power. We shouldn’t be afraid to use it.”
The magic door in my head opened wide, allowing me to see all the possibilities. I used my improved vision to look across the street but saw nothing that gave me any clues to who had shot at me. Turning, I swung my attention to the direction Drake and his men had run, but nothing there set off any warning bells, either. I spun around, figuring I’d call the quarters like I did when I summoned a demon, but the second I faced south, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I focused, trying to pinpoint the sensation, but nothing came to me other than the strong belief that whoever had shot at me was located in that direction.
Who am I to quibble with a hunch?
“This way.” I grabbed Jim’s leash and weaved my way through the throng of people slowly passing the remains of our building. The people on the street faded slightly into the shadows, as if the something that drew my attention was casting darkness on everything else.
“Aisling? I’m not sure we should be doing this,” Nora said slowly, following Jim and me as we dashed across a busy street. “Drake would probably not like you running off if the situation is dangerous—”
“He said to stay with you. I’m doing that. And don’t worry, Drake has been around me enough to know I don’t wait for someone else to rescue me. I’m perfectly capable of saving my own ass. Over here. We have to take the tube—I don’t think it’s terribly close.”
Nora cast out a few more gentle protests and suggestions that we wait for Drake or one of his men to help us, but I nixed that idea. “No time. I don’t know where Drake is, and since I keep forgetting to get his cell phone number, I can’t call h
im up to chat about the situation. Besides, I don’t intend to corner whoever shot at me—atleast, not unless he or she is alone. I just want to find out who and where they are; then we’ll go in with a beefed-up force and deal with things.”
“All right, but I reserve the right to call for assistance if the situation becomes too difficult,” Nora answered. We sat side by side on a short bench in the Underground train that whisked us to an outlying part of London. The feeling that had first caught my attention continued to grow. I still couldn’t pin down any particular sensation other than a strong belief that I needed to go in that direction.
“Wait…I smell something,” Jim said as we emerged from the station into Islington, a chic neighborhood in northern London.
“What? One of the red dragons? Which one, do you know?”
Jim spun around, its nose high in the air. “Not a red dragon.”
“What then? A silver one? Blue?”
“Neither. Something better.” Jim stopped, one paw lifted, its neck thrust forward as it tried to assume a position better suited to a pointer. “Indian take-out!”
“Oh for god’s…I swear, demon, there are times when I seriously think I’d be better off without you.”
Jim grinned at Nora as I snapped its leash and hurried down the crowded sidewalk. “It ain’t easy being the comic relief.”
Nora made no comment, but every time I glanced back at her, her eyes were worried. A frown wrinkled her brow, and the closer we came to what I was sure was the location of the red dragon who’d shot me, the slower she walked.
“Is everything OK?” I asked when we reached the corner of a suburban street.
She shook her head. “I feel…there’s something here, Aisling. Something big. Don’t you feel it?”
I opened myself up for a few minutes but felt nothing out of the ordinary. “Nope. Something like what?”
“I’m not quite sure. It’s nothing that I’ve ever felt before, but I think…I think it’s very bad.”
I looked across the street at the plain white building that stood on the end of a row of almost identical white houses. They were three stories tall, probably late Victorian row houses, now done up and home to yuppies. The house that interested me looked no different from any of the others: black railing out front, windows screened with white lace for privacy, little flower boxes at the windowsills…. It all looked perfectly mundane.
“Well, I can’t just stand here and wait for one of Chuan Ren’s people to show. I’m going to see if anyone is home.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Nora said slowly. I dashed across the street at a traffic break, marching up the stone stairs to the black lacquer front door. Just as I raised my hand to knock, she lunged at my arm, jerking me down a couple of steps. “No! Aisling, you must not!”
“Why?” I asked, confused by the terror I saw in her eyes. “Nora, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted, pulling me down the rest of the stairs until we stood on the sidewalk. “I’ve never been what you would call psychic about places, but I do know that something big is in that house. Something…terrible. And you must not face it.”
I glanced back at the house. I got nothing from it other than the sense of confidence that what I sought was in there. “I’m pretty sure that’s the place we want. Jim? You get any weird emanations from the house?”
“Weird emanations? What, I’m a medium now?” Jim shook its head. “Feels perfectly straightforward to me.”
“Hmm.” I wasn’t a fool. Much as I wanted to investigate whomever it was who was in that house, Nora was an experienced Guardian, and if she wasn’t happy with a location, then I would heed her warning.
For now.
“OK, then,” I said, slipping an arm around her shoulders as I gently steered her back toward the zebra crossing. “I won’t go in by myself. We’ll just make note of the address, and when Drake and his guys are available, we’ll check it out together.”
“No, you must not. In there is”—she cast a worried look over her shoulder at the house—“something truly evil.”
We walked away in silence, returning to the remains of Nora’s destroyed home, Nora breathing easier with each step we took, while I pondered who could possibly be behind the attack. We arrived to find Drake storming around shouting for me.
“Where have you been?” he snarled, marching up to me. “I distinctly remember telling you to stay here—”
“I’ll tell you about it later,” I said in a soft voice, watching Nora carefully. She flashed a smile to Pál, who hurried around to take Paco’s carrier from her and help her into the car.
“I wish to be told now. I dislike being made to wait,”
Drake said crossly.
“You first. Did you find the shooter?”
“No.” Irritation made his eyes bright green. I bit back a smile and the urge to kiss the tip of his nose. “We were unable to find him. Now, where have you been, and why did you leave when I told you to stay?”
I sighed, climbing into the car to sit between Nora and Drake. Even though I didn’t believe Drake and I were ready to shack up, we needed a home, and if he really had changed his mind about supporting me in my Guardian training, then perhaps there was a future for us after all.
Maybe.
“We followed the trail of the person who shot at me, but when we got to the house the person was in, Nora said it was too dangerous to go in ourselves, so we came back. Happy?”
“No. I will investigate this house you found and determine if the person in it is a threat. You should not have gone without me to protect you. I do not like you rushing off in such a heedless manner.”
“Well, tough. Just so you know”—I leaned over and spoke quietly next to his ear, telling my body to stop its celebrations that we were pressed so closely together—“until we’ve had time to work out several things, I want my own room.”
His eyes burned with answering heat. “Kincsem.”
“What?”
He nodded toward my lap. My purse was on fire. I slapped out the flames, shooting him a little annoyed glance. He just smiled. My body threatened to melt under the effect of that smile.
This was going to be a long, long day.
10
“Now, this is what I call living. Wooo! Drinking fountain!”
I glanced into the elaborate bathroom as I passed the door. Jim stood with one furry paw on a handle. “Stop playing in the bidet. This is not our room.”
“Drake said we could have it,” Jim said, examining itself in the shiny gold faucet attached to a sunken marble bath. “Why can’t we take it?”
“Let’s just say I have issues with one of the fixtures in the room.” I closed the door on Jim’s bathroom ecstasy and crossed my arms to look at the fixture in question, lying with negligent grace on the biggest bed I’d ever seen.
“You don’t like the room?”
I looked around it. “It’s…big. Very big. This room alone is bigger than my entire apartment. And it’s…old. I’m assuming these are very antique antiques?”
Drake propped himself up on one elbow and glanced around the room. “Yes. This was my mother’s house for many years. She eventually tired of it and gave it to me. I haven’t bothered redecorating because I’m in London so little. But now that you’re here, and given your situation”—he paused to look meaningfully at my stomach—“perhaps you’d care to put your own mark on the house. You may redecorate to suit your taste.”
I defy any woman to resist those sorts of words. I was speechless for a few moments, weighing my need for independence against the mouth-wateringly delicious thought of having carte blanche to redo a five-bedroom London house. I compromised with, “That’s a thought. If we get things resolved between us so I know there’s a future here, then I would be delighted to take charge of a bit of redecoration.”
His hand stroked the embroidered bedspread. My entire body tightened at the sight of Drake on a bed, his long fingers
moving rhythmically over the material. “You desire to speak to me about our relationship. I am amenable and willing to discuss the situation now.”
I opened my mouth to tell Drake where he could stick his gracious permission but decided this was as good a time as any to get a few things worked out. I settled my self in an uncomfortable wingback chair next to an ornate marble table. “Very well. You mentioned negotiating earlier. Well, I have a few conditions to make if we are going to have a life together.”
“Name your terms,” he said, lolling back on a huge mound of silken pillows.
I spent a few minutes fighting with my body, which wanted to fling itself on the bed and have its wicked way with him. Several times. “First of all, there is the issue of my Guardian training.”
He waved that away. “I told you I had changed my mind on that subject. I would prefer you to devote yourself solely to the sept, but I understand now that you would be extremely unhappy if I forced that upon you.”
“Extremely unhappy doesn’t even begin to touch it,” I answered, ignoring his reference to forcing me to do anything. “Since that’s a moot point, I’ll simply say that I will require your help and full support to achieve my goals of Guardian education.”
He was silent for a moment, then inclined his head. “You will have it.”
“Oh, no; I’m not going to be caught on technicalities again. Say the words, Drake.”
“I will support fully your wish to become a Guardian, including your training.” Desire flared to life in his eyes. A little smile flickered across his lips. It took me a couple of moments to remember what it was we were talking about.
“Thank you,” I said. “Next we have the issue of you telling me what to do all the time. I want autonomy.”
A little frown pinched between his eyes. “That is not allowable.”
“Hang on, I’m not talking about bailing on you. I will continue to support you and the sept. I will fulfill all the duties of a wyvern’s mate. When it comes to things dragonish, I will follow your orders. But everything else in my life is opinion only.”