Part 41 (1/2)

”What are you going to do?” he asked. ”Hurt me because I want to share a blanket? I won't impugn your honor. You're an ornery woman if you won't allow a man even that.”

He moved forward again, and I pressed into the wall, feeling its cold through my thin chemise as he came on. ”I said stop!” The pitch of my voice halted him, and he hesitated, a foot back. Heart pounding, I whispered, ”I might. I've hurt people before. It's what I do. Demon kin. I'm demon kin, and tonight proves it.”

”Aye, you might.” Pierce's eyes narrowed. ”I'll chance it.”

I didn't have time to react as he s.h.i.+fted to sit right next to me, pus.h.i.+ng my arm away when I went to shove him back, slipping the blanket around us and drawing it close.

”You son of a b.i.t.c.h,” I said, and he caught my wrist as I went to shove him, tucking it under his arm so he could pull the blanket closer over my shoulder. ”Leave off!”

”A body is just trying to get warm!” he said, irritated. ”Hold still.”

He moved to block another smack-and both my hands were caught. ”You've been giving your trust to the wrong people. Nohow can you fix it,” Pierce said, and I quit, surprised. ”What do I have to do to win your trust? d.a.m.nation, woman, I just saved you three times, and the sun isn't even up yet.”

Panting, I stared at him through my lank strands of hair. ”I trust Jenks and Ivy.”

His eyes were inches from mine. ”You trust on the surface, but no deeper. You don't know how. For a clever woman, you took the short end of the stick when it comes to men.”

I shoved my shoulder into him, seeing as he had my wrists in one of his hands. ”Get off! I don't want to play this game, Pierce.”

I tapped a line-ready to risk Trent's feeling it-and Pierce's grip on my wrists tightened. ”Game,” he said, voice angry. ”It's an all-fired serious game, and we're going to settle it off the reel. I don't set much store by the lies you tell yourself to protect your heart. Tell me a truth, and I'll let go of you. Use that line upon me instead, and I'll smack your head into the wall.”

Yeah, he probably would. ”This is stupid, Pierce,” I said, heart pounding. ”Let me go.”

”Aye, stupid,” he muttered. ”Tell me a truth, and I'll let go.” I wiggled, and his grip tightened. ”You can't think of one dash-it-all truth?”

”You scare me,” I blurted out, and he exhaled. The furrow over his brow eased, and he loosened his grip on my wrist.

”Why?” he said, but he didn't sound surprised as he gazed at me, a new stubble on his face and his expression unforgiving.

I thought of his sorry state, stinking of river water and p.r.i.c.kly, then the time I'd seen him standing in my church, clean and dressed impeccably, with a hat. Who wears a hat anymore? Who wears a hat anymore? ”Because I'm attracted to you,” I whispered. ”And every man-or woman, for that matter-I'm attracted to is dangerous. They betray me or end up dead or... hurt me somehow.” ”Because I'm attracted to you,” I whispered. ”And every man-or woman, for that matter-I'm attracted to is dangerous. They betray me or end up dead or... hurt me somehow.”

My heart pounded as he thought about that. ”That's half a truth,” he said, and let go of one of my wrists.

I rubbed my wrist, trying to erase his touch. ”I'm afraid that anyone who can look past my shunning and s.m.u.t is a bad person and not to be trusted. Like you.”

Emotion crossed his face, too fast for me to read. ”There's the other half,” he said, letting go of the other wrist and settling himself more comfortably beside me, our shoulders touching. ”One that I deem hogwash, but if you believe it, I'll allow it.”

Feeling less penned in, I s.h.i.+fted my half of the blanket up around my shoulders. ”I want to know what you did for the coven to kill you,” I said, then hesitated. ”Why you're still helping me when you know I'm demon kin. You kill demons. Or try to, anyway.”

He stared at the rock wall across from us. ”You don't know how to play this game. Those are wants, not truths.”

My wrists were fine, not even red in the dim light as I rubbed them, and I could feel his warmth on one side of me, though s.p.a.ce was between us. This was okay. We could share a blanket. I guess. ”How about playing my my game, then,” I said. ”The more you talk, the longer I'll sit here under your blanket.” game, then,” I said. ”The more you talk, the longer I'll sit here under your blanket.”

He smiled at that, but it faded fast, and he stared at the stones and into his past with his hands laced over his s.h.i.+ns.

”Did they kill you because of Eleison?” I asked, pulse fast. Please dont let it be bad. Please dont let it be bad.

”Eleison wasn't why, but it was the beginning of my end,” he said, voice soft in the glow of his magic-made light. ”You know I destroyed it? Every last living soul?” he asked, his expression haunted, and when I nodded, his gaze became distant again. ”They forgave me for that. What came afterward...”

The blanket slipped from my shoulder when he s.h.i.+fted to find a more comfortable position, and I tugged it back up, sending his scent over me along with the blanket. ”Eleison was a small town, rife with foul magic,” he said softly. ”I was a minor coven member, young. Newly taken to my vow. I was the plumber, as Ivy would say, out among the people settling issues, fixing things so that the secret of our species might not be espied. I was sent to Eleison to evaluate and bring back word, but when I found a black coven with a demon and three girls in their circle... I swan, their fear was a powerful thing. It would have been a sin to Moses had I not done something. The circle broke when I made my presence known, and the demon made his escape. I expected to make a die of it, but he didn't kill me. Not right off the reel.”

His voice faltered, and I felt a surge of pity, imagining it.

”Every last person perished before the sun rose, each more foully than the last,” he breathed. ”The demon murdered the three girls by a most horrible means, thinking that they meant something to me. Witches of skill were taken to the ever-after, and warlocks and children of no account... slaughtered like chickens and left askew with their limbs tangled.”

I had to say something. ”You tried to stop the demon,” I offered.

”Of course I did. But the demon set no great store by my efforts, and my skills saved only myself. Not even a child could I spare.” His gaze became angry. ”A coven member, helpless. I was a dash-it-all coven member, and I was helpless. It was my dang-blamed innocence of the way things are, ignoring the truth of it. I opine you're wiser than me, having followed your heart from the beginning and being open with your choices, not hiding them behind lies even if it made your path harder.”

G.o.d help me, he thought my acceptance of black magic was a good thing? Hadn't he been watching this past year?

He hung his head, saying, ”The coven hid the ma.s.sacre as a sickness, and knowing they wouldn't cotton to it, I began studying on it in private. How can you fight a winning battle with something you don't even know the limits of? When by chance a twist of black magic saved my life and hurt no one, I went to the coven with my thoughts. They said they would consider it and sent me to find a rogue master vampire while they discussed it at length.”

My s.h.i.+vering had stopped, and I stared at the same nothing he was. ”Christopher,” I said, remembering the vampire we'd tagged on my nineteenth winter solstice. Was I attracted to Pierce because he believed what I wanted to think was the truth? That demon magic wasnt bad unless you made another pay the cost? Were we both delusional? Was I attracted to Pierce because he believed what I wanted to think was the truth? That demon magic wasnt bad unless you made another pay the cost? Were we both delusional?

He nodded. ”They betrayed me, giving him warning that I was coming and the knowledge to implicate me as a witch and the wisdom to make me helpless, bound with silver my own mentor had charmed. There was no one decision that landed me in your graveyard, but I'll allow it started with Eleison.”

The coven had buried him alive. alive. In my backyard. In a hole like the one we were in now. In my backyard. In a hole like the one we were in now. And I'm flaking out about dogs? And I'm flaking out about dogs? ”I'm so sorry.” ”I'm so sorry.”

He smiled sadly at me, and I noticed his stubble was coming in red, though his hair was black. ”I'm not,” he said. ”If I hadn't paused my life in purgatory, I'd not be here to see the wonder of planes, computers, and orange juice. Or you.”

I drew back, suddenly conscious of my nasty hair and river-water-soaked clothes. His presence beside me grew obvious, and the moist warmth between us rose up, carrying our mingling scents. ”Are you cold?” he asked softly.

s.h.i.+t, s.h.i.+t, s.h.i.+t. I knew what was happening, but I didn't want to stop it. Be smart, Ivy had said. Was this smart? ”No,” I whispered, pulse racing. I was not falling for him. I wasn't! But a small voice inside me said I might have, and what was left was only justification and trying to find a way to live with the coming heartache when it ended.

I'd asked for the truth, and he'd told me. He knew who I was. Had for a long time. And he was sitting beside me, having dragged me out of the river and kept me from being torn apart by dogs despite what I was. Who I might become.

Slowly, I s.h.i.+fted my weight to lean into him. My heart pounded at the simple motion that was anything but. I felt his warmth mingle with mine as the curious sensation of hesitant trust and tension swirled, sparking even more desire. d.a.m.n me back to the Turn, but I wanted this. Bad track record, obvious warnings, and roommates aside, I wanted to see where this might go. More important, I was strong enough to see where it might end, and it would end. Smart decision? Probably not, but it was being made with my eyes open.

He was a black-arts witch who made no apologies. He didn't care what the coven thought, and even more telling, he had the ability and the strength to stand up to them, thumb his nose, and still be who he wanted to be. That was what I wanted, too.

He leaned toward me, and I stiffened at the thrill of wanted emotion spilling down my side where we touched. Feeling it, he hesitated. ”I truly scare you?” he asked, inches away.

”Yes.” I took a breath, poised on something new as I gazed at him, remembering him wrapped around me as I tried to bolt, holding me-protecting me from myself.

He paused, eyes fixed to mine. ”I'm of a mind that you're lying now.”

I s.h.i.+fted, lips parted as I looked at him. ”You do scare me. You're a dangerous, threatening witch, and me a.s.sociating with you isn't going to help me get unshunned. You use black magic too quickly, you tell me what to do as if you're in charge, you're way too c.o.c.ky with Al, and people around you die.” But they die around me, too. But they die around me, too.

The blanket fell from my shoulder, and nodding his agreement of my a.s.sessment, he leaned to pull it back up around me. My eyes flashed to his when he didn't slump back, but instead hesitated, his lips inches from mine. Waiting. ”So?” he asked, the modern phrase sounding odd from him.

People die around me, too. Not caring about tomorrow, I lifted my chin to meet him. Not caring about tomorrow, I lifted my chin to meet him.

Warmth spilled through my body, and my grip tightened. His lips were warm against me, with just enough demand in them to ignite my own pa.s.sion. A small noise slipped from me, and my eyes closed. I s.h.i.+fted closer, wanting this.

Our lips parted, and I met his eyes, wondering what I'd find. My worry vanished at the hot desire mirrored in his. I wasn't going to think anymore. Trying to plan my life wasn't working, and this felt good. In my gut, in my heart. I didn't care if it didn't last.

Rising, I put my knees on either side of him to sit on his lap, my head almost touching the ceiling. His smile didn't last long, or at least I didn't see it because I leaned in and kissed him.

Pierce's hand went behind my head, holding me firm. A tingle of ley-line energy threatened between us, and my breath came fast. Oh G.o.d. I'd forgotten about that, and my hands twined behind his back as his hand at my spine made a fist and his lips stopped moving against mine. ”Don't stop, Pierce,” I said, breathless, and he gazed at me, blue eyes serious.