Whisper Kiss

  "Sewer dwellers?" he echoed.

  "Don't get me started. They don't even have sewers in Venice; they have the canals. It was the stupidest loss of a day ever."

  Zoe was, as usual, an enthusiastic eater--that had to be why she was growing so fast. Erik wanted her to grow faster, to become capable of advising him, given his belief that she was the current Wyvern who could aid the Pyr.

  "So tell me about Gaspar," Eileen invited. "I'm up for an entertaining story that makes sense. We're not going anywhere until Zoe eats, anyway."

  Erik frowned and leaned against the counter. "That's just it--I don't know."

  "You mean you forgot."

  "No."

  "You never knew?"

  "No. I knew. I know that I knew. And I feel like I remember. Or I should remember. I just can't pull it into my thoughts. I can't even keep a grasp of his name. What was it again?"

  "Gaspar!"

  "Gaspar." Erik flung out a hand in frustration. "It's like that red type I've spent all day trying to see. There's something keeping me from it."

  Eileen glanced up at him, the loaded spoon in midair. "Sounds like you've been beguiled," she said quietly.

  "Don't be ridiculous." Erik was dismissive. "Pyr can't be beguiled. We beguile humans, but we cannot beguile one another."

  "Oh, okay, then you are going crazy. I'll pick up some adult diapers for you at the grocery next time, just in case you lose your grip on the world completely." Eileen spoke lightly, but Erik knew she was giving him a hard time.

  He was insulted. "You will not."

  She laughed. "I have to tell you--I like the idea of your being beguiled a whole lot better than the prospect of your losing your jelly beans."

  "We Pyr do not experience neurological disorders. . . ."

  "Then you give me your explanation." There was a dare in her tone, one Erik couldn't ignore. She turned to look at him, her eyes bright. "Why can't you remember Gaspar?"

  Erik tried to recall Gaspar, but that Pyr disappeared from his thoughts as surely as a shadow runs from the sun. Even his name was slippery.

  "I can see him in my mind's eye, but not clearly and not for long," Erik said, pulling out a chair.

  "What did he look like?"

  Eileen's question seemed to tease the memory into making a reappearance. "He had dark hair and dark eyes. Handsome and flamboyant."

  "Errol Flynn as a Pyr," Eileen said with approval. "That works."

  "It worked for lots of women," Erik admitted. "I remember my father's complaining that Gaspar was more interested in seducing women than in defending humans as a whole. He could usually be found with at least one woman and was easily distracted by another. He claimed he needed to be immortal to appreciate all the feminine beauty in the world."

  Eileen smiled. "I gotta tell you, fidelity is a whole lot more sexy." She winked at Erik and he smiled slightly.

  "He was persuaded of the merit of that after his own firestorm." Erik paused, finding that barricade in his thoughts again.

  "Well?" Eileen prompted.

  "I don't know," Erik admitted with irritation. "I remembered some of it, but then no more."

  "You mean you know you know, but you can't think of it."

  "Exactly!"

  "I thought beguiling was a kind of hypnosis that persuaded humans that things were true even though they knew they were not."

  "Well, it is. . . ."

  "Like your thinking that you don't remember about Gaspar, but knowing in your heart that you do."

  "That Pyr was one of my father's best friends. I know they kept in touch until the end, and I know I knew about him."

  "Gaspar," Eileen repeated, then gestured to the pen and paper.

  Erik wrote down the name. "There's no way that I could not have known! His firestorm happened long before my father died."

  "Then he must have had a son."

  It was true.

  If anything, the barrier in Erik's mind grew more impenetrable, which told him a great deal. "He had a firestorm, so he must have had a son," Erik agreed, then rubbed his forehead with the inevitable realization. "And he or his son must have beguiled me."

  That feat alone was impressive, never mind the question of why any Pyr would have seen fit to beguile Erik. What could Gaspar and his son have been hiding? What had become of them?

  Erik didn't know, and he supposed that had been the point.

  Still, Erik Sorensson had been beguiled. It made sense, given the data at hand, except that he'd never believed it possible. He fought to wrap his mind around the inescapable yet astonishing fact.

  "You look insulted," Eileen said, laughter in her tone.

  "I am insulted! It's outrageous that some Pyr would have the audacity to attempt to beguile me. . . ."

  "To succeed in beguiling you," Eileen corrected. "He must have been pretty good at it."

  Erik pushed to his feet to pace. "It's a breach of propriety! Pyr should not beguile each other, and no one should even consider beguiling the leader of the Pyr."

  "So now you know how humans feel about beguiling."

  "That's different."

  "Is it?"

  Erik exhaled, not troubling to hide his irritation. One thing he admired about Eileen was her ability to face the truth, however discomfiting it was, and adjust her course accordingly.

  He could use some of that in this moment.

  She threw him a mischievous smile, knowing exactly how to dissolve his foul mood, and it worked like a charm. "It's good for you to have your assumptions challenged once in a while, Erik. Good for everybody."

  Erik smiled despite himself. "I still would have preferred for you to be wrong."

  "Sure, but it's kind of interesting. Opens up a number of new possibilities."

  "None of which I like."

  "Well, there has to be a way around it," Eileen said, showing her usual practicality. "Now that we know the barrier is there, we can define its perimeter and maybe find a way around it. Hypnosis has its weaknesses, too. You already remembered some things about Gaspar because I asked different questions, so let's work with that strategy. We'll poke and prod and see if we can find a pathway into your memories that this son overlooked."

  It was as good a plan as anything, and Erik was--yet again--glad of Eileen's clear thinking. They made a good team, and he was encouraged that they could resolve this together.

  Then he realized that Zoe, her eyes gleaming, was watching him intently, as though following their discussion. He leaned forward closer. "Can you help me, Zoe?" he asked softly. "Does the Wyvern have the power to undo a beguiling?"

  Zoe smiled, turning her attention on her mother as if she hadn't understood him at all. She reached for the spoon and carefully managed to feed herself another bite.

  Erik wasn't persuaded. There had been something evasive about her gesture, something that put him in mind of the last Wyvern, Sophie.

  Did Zoe already know more than he did?

  And how could he persuade his daughter to share? If she truly was like Sophie, he wouldn't be able to force her to tell him anything more than she intended to tell him.

  That was when he knew what he had to do. This was a distraction and a potentially dangerous one--he couldn't let himself be diverted from his duty to the Pyr. That was his priority.

  "We have to go to New York," Erik said, narrowing his eyes and casting his thoughts into the future. "I'll hope that we're back in time for the big display."

  "Pyr come first?" Eileen teased.

  "You know they do, especially now. There are some things I can't delegate."

  "Just tell your team that you have a family emergency," Eileen suggested. "It's pretty much the truth."

  Erik grabbed his cell phone and punched in the number of the most talented and thorough man on his pyrotechnics team. He knew he'd be making Steve's dream come true.

  He was right.

  When he'd made the arrangements and promised to stay in touch with Steve, he felt even more confident in
his choice. "I'll have to revise my notes and e-mail them to him tonight, then cross-check the list of supplies and send that, as well."

  "And you have to try to remember about Gaspar."

  Erik nodded in agreement, wondering how he would manage all of this while flying his family east in his dragon form.

  Eileen was two steps ahead of him.

  "So, we have to drive," she said firmly. "You can work and Zoe can sleep."

  "But," Erik began in protest, knowing where this was going and not liking it one bit.

  Eileen grinned. "Yes, I finally get to drive your shiny new car. No alternate possibilities, Mr. Sorensson, so you're just going to have to get over it."

  Erik frowned, already having gotten over the car seat in the back. He'd never imagined any vehicle in his possession would be so equipped, and was surprised only by how little he minded.

  And his beloved Lamborghini, carefully stored for the time being, had been spared that indignity.

  "You can't do everything." Eileen patted his shoulder on her way to the sink with the dirty dishes, showing a perkiness that Erik didn't trust. "Don't worry," she said with a grin. "I'll try to stay under one hundred."

  The client at Imagination Ink wasn't a woman Niall would have expected to get a tattoo. Laurie looked as if she were on a day trip from the suburbs, her chestnut hair deftly styled and her makeup light. She was dressed in expensive casual wear and carried a designer purse. She seemed hesitant, her gaze flicking to Niall.

  "He's my apprentice," Rox said quickly, then cast Niall a mischievous smile. "He'll just watch and hopefully learn something."

  Niall found himself smiling in turn, trying to put the client at ease and help Rox. "There's always hope, when a person gets enough second chances."

  Rox flushed.

  "I didn't know there'd be an audience," Laurie said, gripping her purse more tightly.

  "There often is an apprentice," Rox said kindly. "Don't worry--he'll just blend into the wallpaper. Inconspicuous, that's Niall."

  Niall knew she was teasing him, and he swallowed his smile.

  Laurie smiled quickly. "I doubt that." She hesitated on the threshold, clearly nervous at what she'd decided to do.

  "Come on in," Rox said, her tone encouraging. "How did you find Imagination Ink?"

  "I heard this was a good place to come and that you were the person to see." Laurie looked between the two of them. "My neighbor's teenage daughter has a butterfly on her shoulder that you did." She touched her left shoulder with a fingertip.

  "Oh, the blue and purple one?" Rox asked. She grabbed the fat binder of her portfolio and opened it, fanning to the page. "That was Stephanie. She knew exactly what she wanted. It came out nicely."

  "Yes, that's it!" Laurie's face lit up at Rox's remembering, and she tapped the photograph with a fingertip.

  "I'm glad she was pleased." Rox smiled. Niall respected that she took such pride in her work.

  The tension eased out of Laurie's shoulders. "I thought it was so pretty, for a tattoo. Feminine."

  Niall nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. "Rox does good work," he said, and meant it.

  "So, who's the memorial for?" Rox was relaxed and friendly, her question putting Laurie even more at ease.

  Niall sensed that she wanted to talk.

  "My sister, Anna," she said. "She died last month. She always said she would get a tattoo, but she never did." Laurie swallowed and smiled slightly, her tears rising. "She was always the rebel, you know, while I always did what I was told. When she first said she'd get a tattoo, our mom went wild."

  "Which only made her more determined to do it," Rox guessed. She was pulling out small mechanisms and lining them up on her worktable, much as a dentist would line up his tools.

  Laurie nodded and loosened her grip on her purse slightly. "But then she got sick, and--" Her throat worked and she blinked rapidly.

  Rox moved to change the subject with an ease that told Niall she'd done this a thousand times before. "What kind of image were you thinking of? Do you have something special in mind?"

  "A Celtic cross." Laurie indicated her left bicep. "And I want it here."

  Rox stood up and headed for the door. Niall was ready to follow her. "There are a lot of crosses in the flash."

  "I wanted something unique," Laurie said firmly, and Rox halted. "Something no one else has. That's why I came here."

  "A custom piece is more expensive," Rox warned, "because it takes more time."

  "I don't care." Laurie squared her shoulders. "It's the only tattoo I'll ever have, because Anna was the only sister I ever had. The price isn't the point. That it reflects Anna is."

  Rox smiled and Niall understood that she preferred to do custom work. She moved quickly then, pulling down binders from her own shelf. The two women began to discuss the piece, Laurie pointing out what she liked and didn't like while Rox sketched on a piece of tracing paper.

  Niall tried his best to be invisible, even though he was itching to look through those binders. He was aware that the firestorm's sparks could spook Rox's client, so he stayed put.

  Within fifteen minutes, the two women had a design they both liked. Niall was impressed again by Rox's skill--and also by her ability to draw information from the client that would make the work particularly meaningful.

  The Celtic cross indicated the family's Irish heritage and sustaining faith--the knots on it were intricate, even though Rox had just drawn the design freehand. The two lush peonies below the cross were intended to evoke the two sisters, and Rox was going to color the tattoo so it looked as if light were coming from behind the cross. In Memory of Anna would be drawn in script that arched over the cross like a rainbow, colliding with the peonies at either end.

  The design was quite pretty, to Niall's eyes. The women discussed and agreed upon the price, then Rox set to work.

  He could see that the routine was reassuring to Rox. She made a stencil in the corridor, giving him a look when he followed her. At least she didn't argue as he stood vigil.

  "Apprentices have to learn," he whispered, and saw the quick light of her smile.

  Back in the room, she pulled on her surgical gloves. She cleaned the skin and applied the stencil in position on Laurie's arm. Laurie checked it out in the mirror while Rox chose sterilized needles and inks.

  "We can break the session in half if it's too much for you," she said. "I can do the color at a later date, so just let me know how you're feeling."

  "How long will it take to do it all?"

  Rox eyed the stencil. "Two hours, give or take. The outline will take about forty minutes, but the color always hurts more."

  "I want it all done now," Laurie said, then laughed. "Otherwise I might lose my nerve. And I might not get such a good parking spot the next time."

  The women laughed together, and Rox turned on the tattoo gun. "Just a little line first to get you used to the feel of it," Rox said, her tone soothing. Laurie's eyes widened at the first prick of the tattoo gun, then she relaxed.

  "It's not actually that bad," she told Niall, and he smiled to reassure her. He wasn't at all convinced. He'd seen the cluster of needles that fit into the tattoo gun and he knew he was hearing the sound of them impacting the skin over and over again.

  Rox was focused on her work, her face close to the lines she was drawing. The stencil had left a purple outline on Laurie's skin and Rox carefully retraced every line with the black ink. Niall could see the skin swelling and reddening from the impact of the needles, and Laurie fell silent.

  To his surprise, Rox began a conversation. "Tell me about your sister," she said. "What was Anna like, besides being the rebel?"

  Laurie heaved a sigh and closed her eyes.

  Then she talked.

  Laurie talked about the two girls growing up together, about her sister's need to push the limits, about their differences and commonalities. She talked frankly about her sister's illness and the challenges it had offered to the whole family. She talked
about her feelings of loss and love, her mother's devastation, and the sustenance they'd all had from their faith.

  Niall thought about siblings, about the bonds between sisters and brothers. He realized he hadn't wept when Phelan had died.

  He had wept when Phelan turned Slayer.

  Interesting.

  Laurie talked and talked, responding to Rox's occasional prompts, emptying her heart as the image grew on her skin. Niall could almost feel the pain she shed, could almost see it being discarded on the floor. She wept when she described Anna's last moments, surrounded by everyone she loved, and Rox's eyes glistened in sympathy.

  That was when Niall understood the transaction being made.

  Laurie ran out of memories and pain at roughly the same time Rox put the last touch of pink in the heart of the second peony. When Laurie stood to study the tattoo in the mirror, she stood straighter, as if she'd surrendered a burden. Laurie touched the swollen skin carefully, marveling at the tattoo's intricacy, and then she cried.

  Rox had a big box of tissues at the ready. She gave Laurie a tissue and a hug, then turned Laurie to the mirror to fix her makeup while Rox cleaned up her tools to give her some privacy. Rox blinked back tears, trying to keep Niall from seeing them, but he knew she'd done this before.

  Many, many times.

  Niall was amazed by the gift of healing Rox gave so readily. It would have been cheap at twice the price.

  Laurie composed herself and Rox put a bandage over the fresh tattoo. Niall didn't think Laurie heard the care instructions Rox gave her, but he noticed that Rox also gave her a sheet with those instructions along with her change.

  Laurie smiled at Niall from the doorway. "I think you have a good teacher," she said, a new sparkle in her eyes.

  "I know you're right," he agreed.

  Laurie gave Rox another tight hug, thanked her profusely, then strode out of the shop.

  Rox started to clean up her station. Niall could see her lifting her defenses back into place and knew he didn't have long to reach her.

  And there was something they needed to talk about.