S
tartled, I froze.
Lomen?
Just play along.
I brought a hand up to Manda’s back and whispered in her ear, “Did Lomen put you up to this?”
She nodded and kept clinging. I was acutely aware of Buzz-cut’s gaze. I squeezed Manda’s shoulders, then let go, taking a step toward the policeman.
“Is there anything else you need, Officers?” Lomen asked.
Buzz-cut watched me with hooded eyes. “Guess not right now.”
I turned to the door. Manda followed me. I let her go in first.
Lomen lingered behind. I was about to go back out when he stepped in and closed the door. He headed for the kitchen and we followed.
“Thank you, Amanda,” he said in a low voice. “I think that was helpful.”
Helpful?!
Shh.
I grabbed a mug and reached for the coffee. Heard the sound of a car pulling away.
“My pleasure,” Manda said. “That cop’s a jerk. He’s got no business treating Steve the way he does.”
I thought about the card in my pocket. Instinct made me keep it to myself.
“I agree,” Lomen said.
“As if we didn’t have enough problems,” Manda added, reaching for the fridge.
The coffee tasted acid. I left it on the counter, went to the bathroom, and splashed some cold water on my face. Hoped the day wouldn’t get any worse.
I decided to deal with the laundry, needing to do something to help calm myself down. I pulled the load out of the dryer and then stood in the laundry room sorting socks.
You’re angry.
Yeah, I am.
What did I do wrong?
I threw a pair of underwear back in the basket and swallowed.
I’m not ashamed of who I am.
Nor am I.
And I won’t pretend to be someone I’m not.
Lomen didn’t answer right away. I picked up the shorts again and frowned at them. Were they mine, or his?
I see. I apologize.
My annoyance evaporated, leaving behind a vague unhappiness.
I know you were just trying to help.
That policeman is prejudiced.
Yeah, I noticed.
The garage door opened. I looked up and saw the Lexus pulling in.
They’re back.
I took the laundry basket to Lomen’s room and left it by the dresser. Went out to the living room, where Caeran and the others were gathered, except for Len. She must still be asleep.
Lomen looked up at me from the far end of the couch, apology in his eyes. He’d dispensed with the glasses.
“The police had the area blocked off,” Caeran said.
He looked strained. He must have been pretty tired by then.
“We were able to sense their reactions, but there were too many people for us to discern whether the alben’s khi was present.”
“It must have been them,” Manda said. “Same M.O.’s, combined this time.”
“Yes. The police were thinking the same thing.”
“What about the motel?” Lomen asked.
“We went by again, but they were not there. They may have moved.”
Lomen frowned. “If they’re in a different motel, we can find them by their khi. They won’t be able to leave in daylight.”
Caeran sighed. “It is worth looking. However, we need a rest.”
“I’ll go,” Lomen said.
“Not alone,” said Faranin.
I’ll go with you.
No.
He said it with enough force that I shielded instinctively.
I’m sorry, Steven. It’s too dangerous for you.
They can’t do anything to me in daylight, right?
They could still control you.
From a distance? Through a door?
A short distance, yes. A door probably won’t make a difference.
I’ll stay in the car. You and I are the only ones who’ve had any rest.
Lomen pursed his lips. Caeran was watching him.
I shielded again.
Can they hear us?
No, but they can tell that we’re talking.
Lomen straightened in his seat. “Steven and I could drive up Central. If I sense the alben’s khi, we’ll call.”
Caeran shook his head. “Better if we all go. They will not move before nightfall. We have time to rest.”
It made sense. I was still disappointed. I wanted to do something. I was pretty sure Poppy had been grabbed at random, but having two acquaintances murdered in less than a month made for a certain level of anxiety.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Manda stifling a yawn. I stepped over to her chair.
“Want a ride to your apartment?”
She brightened. “Great idea. I’ll get my wallet.”
I looked up at Lomen. “We could go to my place. Faranin and Bironan can rest here.”
“We can easily rest outside,” said Bironan.
“More comfortable inside, isn’t it?” I said.
Lomen stood. I went to get my keys from the bedroom, and grabbed my pack as well. By the time I got back Manda was waiting by the door to the garage.
Caeran handed his keys to Lomen. “Come back by four.”
“It’ll be before then,” I told him. “I have an afternoon class.”
“I’m skipping mine,” said Manda, yawning again.
We headed out. Lomen drove south and turned into an apartment complex. We waited in the car, watching Manda run up the stairs to a second-floor apartment and disappear inside.
“Your place?” Lomen asked softly.
“Yeah.”
We didn’t talk while he drove. I was too stressed, I realized. Buzz-cut had both pissed me off and alarmed me, which was probably his intention.
Maybe Albuquerque wasn’t any better than Cruces.
My tension increased as we got closer to my apartment. I was bracing for finding something awful. A burning cross, maybe.
There was nothing unusual to be seen. Lomen parked at the curb and we got out. I checked the mail—it had been a few days—and pulled out a handful of junk mail.
I started toward the apartment. Lomen touched my arm, and stepped past me when I paused. He walked slowly, looking right and left. Looking for what? Booby-traps?
Khi.
Realization hit me. He was looking for the alben, or for Pirian.
Did Pirian know where I lived? A shiver surprised me, and I shielded.
Nothing here. Only the police.
Figures.
I unlocked the door and we went in. The place was as still as a tomb. I dumped the mail on my desk and sorted through it. There was a printed notice of my course changes, otherwise it was all junk. I tossed all but the course changes in the wastebasket, then sat on the couch.
Tired. I rubbed my eyes. I’d slept part of the night, but the morning had been stressful. Lomen sat beside me and lightly rested a hand on my back, rubbing along my spine with his thumb.
May I?
I leaned forward, letting him rub my back. I hadn’t realized how tense my muscles were. He massaged with just enough pressure to unlock the knots. It felt so good I started salivating.
Ever heard of Ten Thousand Waves?
No.
It’s a Japanese spa. Let’s go there.
Now?
I laughed.
It’s in Santa Fe.
Ah.
I sighed.
What a mess.
It will get better.
How? Caeran’s going to try to talk to them, and they’re going to laugh in his face. They’ve made it clear they don’t care what he thinks.
They may care what all of us think.
I realized I was staring at the rug.
Do you want to fight them?
No.
But you will.
If I must.
Shit.
Lomen dug a little harder into my shoulder muscles. I closed my eyes.
I want to keep you safe, Steven. That’s my goal in all this.
Who’s going to keep you safe? I can’t, apparently.
I’ll be careful. I’ve no ambition to be a hero.
But you are a hero. You saved Manda, that day in the library.
No—you
saved her. You went in first, and startled Kanna into fleeing. If she hadn’t run—well, I shudder to think what might have happened.
I thought back to that day at Zimmerman. Summer afternoon, I was trolling for books, and I noticed a woman watching Manda with an expression I didn’t like. And then following her into the restroom. And I’d gone in after them.
I’d had no idea what I was looking at. The alben—Kanna—could easily have killed me.
I failed Amanda that day. I was supposed to be guarding her. It is you who are the hero.
You couldn’t have known she was already in the building.
I should have detected her. She masked her khi well.
Don’t beat yourself up about it. She’s dead, right?
Yes.
Let’s just worry about the ones that are alive. How are we going to stop them?
He switched from my shoulders to between my shoulder blades. I was starting to zone.
It is possible for an ælven to control another. Success is more likely with two, or preferably three.
Caeran, Lomen, Savhoran, Faranin, Bironan. Barely enough to control two alben, by that standard.
Where does Pirian fit in?
I wish I knew.
Could they have killed him?
Possibly. I don’t think he’s dead, however. We would probably have sensed an ælven death.
You’re that connected?
We are always aware of the khi around us. A change like that, we would probably sense.
Well, if Pirian’s not dead, where the hell is he?
With them, perhaps.
Shit.
So...if he’s gone rogue...
We are dealing with three alben instead of two.
Great.
I straightened, aware that the backrub was putting me to sleep. Lomen’s hands fell away. I turned to face him and took his near hand in mine.
“Thank you.”
He laced his fingers through mine, and my heart did a slow flip. I’d wanted more than a short-term thing. Was this becoming more?
Lomen’s hand squeezed mine.
I had forgotten what a comfort it is to have a lover. It had been a very long time, for me.
There’s no one in the clan...?
No. When we were in Europe, we met other ælven from time to time. For a while we allied ourselves with another clan, and I knew a couple of them, but it was centuries ago.
Centuries.
I reached up to touch his face. His jaw was perfectly smooth. I realized they were all like that: Caeran, Faranin, even Savhoran. And I hadn’t seen any razors in the bathroom other than mine and a pink one that was probably Manda’s.
You don’t have to shave, do you?
No.
Dammit.
He grinned.
Caeran’s son had very light facial hair. He almost never shaved, at least when we knew him.
Lucky him.
It was at a time when most men wore beards. There were occasions when it was a disadvantage to him.
So did you know Shakespeare?
My remark had been half-flippant, but he answered it seriously.
We tended to avoid human society, for the most part. Caeran’s marriage was an exception.
Oh, man. I swallowed. “You thirsty?”
“Now that you mention it.”
I stood, reluctant to let go of his hand. Gradually our fingers unlaced. I shoved my hands in my pockets as I went to the kitchen, and found Officer Ulibarri’s card.
What had she wanted? The look she had given me was non-trivial.
I filled two glasses with cold water. The clock on the stove said 2:15. I hadn’t realized it was that late.
I went back to the living room and handed Lomen a glass. “I’ll have to start thinking about getting to class soon.”
“Shall I drop you on campus, or take you back for your bike?”
“You can drop me. I’ll be fine walking.”
His silence made me expect to find him waiting after my class. I couldn’t work up to being indignant about it—not after all the crap that had been happening.
I took out my laptop and got online, then got out the card and shot Officer Ulibarri a text:
THANKS 4 UNDERSTANDING.
It wasn’t two minutes before she sent back an answer:
I WANTED TO APOLOGIZE FOR MY PARTNER’S BEHAVIOR. HE’S SENIOR TO ME AND I CAN’T DO MUCH ABOUT IT, BUT HE IS OUT OF LINE. THE DNA CLEARED YOU DAYS AGO.
So they’d run my DNA. My anger rose at Buzz-cut's harassment, but something else niggled at me.
What had they compared my DNA to? If they had a sample then Kimberly had probably been raped, though they might have just found a stray hair.
“Holy fucking shit,” I whispered.
Lomen gave me an inquiring look.
“The police have a sample of alben DNA.”
M
y brain started buzzing. Could we get the sample away from the cops? Not without breaking a bunch of laws and risking deep trouble.
Lomen shook his head.
It’s already been analyzed. The data could be in a dozen places.
I could get a job with the police. I could get in and destroy the sample, find all the copies of the analysis—
Steven, they must have samples from last year, too. It's too late.
My heart sank. I knew he was right.
This is bad. If someone starts messing with those samples and realizes they’re looking at another species...
They would not be likely to connect it to us.
I looked at him, thinking how amazing he was, how much more skilled than any human, and how much more vulnerable. I had to save him. All of them—all the ælven. We had to find that cure.
Project Ebonwatch was even more important than we’d thought, and time was of the essence. I didn’t like the helpless feeling of knowing how much I had to learn before I could begin to be of use.
I put aside my laptop and put my arms around Lomen. I just wanted to feel his heart beating next to mine. We made love, reassuring each other, reaffirming our connection.
Finally I looked at the clock. “I've got to go.”
Lomen drove me to campus and dropped me near the building where I had my genetics class. I liked the prof—a deep-voiced, no-nonsense woman with masses of curly dark hair—and actually enjoyed the next hour and a half. When I came out, Lomen was waiting under the trees by the door.
We walked to Len & Caeran's, crossing Central to the residential areas and then turning east. I noticed more yellow leaves on the trees, more leaves down in the street. Fall weather, state fair weather. A memory from high school came to me—marching band—riding up in school buses to march in the state fair parade. I smiled.