Robyn Bachar - Blood, Smoke and Mirrors

In his lair again (though in my opinion anything called a lair ought to have torches, cobwebs and a coffin), Zach sat next to me on the couch as we watched another movie. An action-packed thriller, it featured lots of explosions and car chases that took full advantage of the big-screen TV and surround-sound system. He slid his arm around my shoulders halfway through the film, and turning toward him, I raised an eyebrow, looking from the encroaching arm to those gorgeous green eyes.

“You’re invading my space. Go watch the movie on the other end of the couch.”

“No.”

“No? Okay, I’ll go watch the movie on the other end of the couch then.” Rising to my feet, I tried to walk past him and found myself suddenly tugged into his lap.

“There, much better.” Zach grinned.

“Oh no it isn’t, we’ve been over this before, now let me go.” I sighed, trying to escape, but Harrison shook his head and held me in place. Reaching up, he caressed my cheek, and then trailed his fingers down the side of my neck.

“Don’t,” I warned him.

“I’m not going to bite you.”

I started to argue but was cut off when he kissed me. By now I’d gotten used to Zach and his demanding, intense kisses-at the end of the night he kept expecting me to melt into a puddle of willing goo and invite him into my suite, and I kept rebuffing his efforts and closing the door in his face.

When it became apparent he wasn’t about to let me go I decided to give him a no-nonsense magical shove to get my point across. To my immediate surprise my shields didn’t snap into place as I expected. They formed around me, but they stretched to include Harrison. Just like they did with Lex.

Sensing the change, the vampire pulled away and looked deep into my eyes for a moment, and he smiled. The expression frightened me more than if he’d flashed fangs at me.

“How…how did you do that?”

“You can’t keep me out, Catherine. Not anymore.” Though his voice was still soft, his tone had a threatening edge to it, a hint of the predator that lurked beneath the benign smile.

“What did you do?”

Harrison continued to smile, ignoring my discomfort. “Would you like something to drink? A glass of wine, perhaps?”

“Sure, wine is good,” I lied. Anything to get away. He released me, and I squirmed away from him and retreated to a safe distance. I had no idea how he’d managed to get around my shields. Sure, he’d surrounded me with his shields in the limo when Portia tried to shoot him, but that was different. I followed him to the bar, and he poured a glass of deep red wine.

“There’s dessert here as well, chocolate-covered strawberries.” He waved at a covered plate next to where he stood. Though I certainly had no appetite at the moment I removed the cover, discovering an arrangement of fat, luscious-looking berries decorated with intricate designs in white and dark chocolate. The vampire held the glass out to me, reaching through my shields as though nothing was there at all. Glaring at him, I took the glass and backed away.

“How are you doing that?”

“It’s very simple, actually. We’re connected, you can’t keep me out.”

“How are we connected? We weren’t connected before. I could keep you out a few days ago, what changed?”

“You have,” Zach answered. “Is the wine not to your liking?” I glanced down and sniffed at the dark liquid, almost expecting to see an ominous skull and crossbones swirling within the glass. When I couldn’t find anything obviously wrong with it I took a sip-raspberry wine, one of my favorites. “It hasn’t been tampered with.”

“The wine hasn’t, but I have?”

“I wouldn’t put it that way, no. It’s actually quite an honor among necromancers.”

“I’m not a necromancer.”

Shrugging, he surveyed the selection of strawberries, picked one up and bit into it. “Not bad, you should try one.”

“Just explain what you did.”

“We’re attuned to each other now. You can’t use harmful magic against me, but I can’t use it against you either. I can’t force you to do anything, but you can’t keep pushing me away.” With his usual calm, polite air about him he explained the situation while peering down at the tray of berries. “Together, however, we strengthen each other’s abilities. With enough practice one can even tell what the other is thinking or feeling.” Selecting one, he held it out to me and I glared at it, struggling to figure out exactly what he meant. I’d never heard of two people becoming attuned to each other in a magic-type sense.

“And how is that possible?”

“I’m afraid to admit that it is necromancy, a rarely used spell. It’s usually a mark of trust between a master necromancer-or vampire as you’re fond of calling them-and his or her favorite apprentice. But that’s not important. What is important is that we share a bond, not unlike the one your guardian so easily tossed aside. I can’t hurt you now, I couldn’t even if I wanted to. You have nothing to fear from me, so there is nothing to prevent us from working together.”

“And it never occurred to you to ask if I wanted this?”

“You wouldn’t agree.”

“Damn straight I wouldn’t agree, you manipulative bastard.” I slammed the wineglass down, and red liquid sloshed over the sides. Furious, I hauled back and slapped him. The blow didn’t faze him, but I suddenly felt pain zing to life across my face, mirroring where I’d just struck him. “What the hell!”

“I did warn you. Our pain is shared now, and you’d do well to inform your faerie cousins of that,” he said coldly.

“This isn’t fair.”

“This is how the game is played, Catherine. A Titania should know that.”

“It’s not a game-”

“Yes, it is, and you’d best get used to it. You should be grateful for what I’ve done for you. There are those who wouldn’t be as gentle as I have been, who would’ve capitalized even more on your mistakes.”

“What mistakes?”

“For one, Maureen would never have agreed to stay here.”

“Maureen wouldn’t have left a friend to die,” I protested.

“Yes, she would have. A Titania is expected to sacrifice her own needs in order to protect her people. You should have left your friend, but you didn’t. You shouldn’t have gotten involved in vampire and shapeshifter politics, yet you have. Your path was decided the moment you let Faust into your apartment.”

“And what path is that, pray tell?”

“A greater path than that of Titania. You can be more than a mere go-between for magicians and faeries. You can be a great leader, and change the future of all magicians.”

“But only if I work with you, right?”

“I’m the only one who will offer this to you. Duquesne certainly won’t get involved. He’s ignored this problem for far too long.”

My heart sank. “Lex knows? About the government, and the experiments?” That couldn’t be possible. It was Lex’s job to protect magicians from that sort of thing. Wasn’t it?

“Of course. As always, the guardians are unwilling to get involved in mortal affairs. Oh, they’ll protect us from each other, but not from the outside world.”

Resisting the urge to squirm, I decided to move on. “So what happens next?”

“Tomorrow we’ll attend the gallery event, and then on Sunday you and Mr. MacInnes will leave. After that, I would like you to return, of your own free will.”

“Uh-huh. Leaving the ‘oh hell no’ of it all aside, my bills are probably piling up-”

“I’ve already taken care of those. I made sure your payments were made, including your rent.”

“With what? I barely have anything in my savings.” I blinked at him. Lord and Lady, my account was probably overdrawn by now. There were sure to be many angry messages waiting for me in my voicemail.