“Vayl?” I asked.
“I am under the bridge.”
His approach would take him low, through the nameless creek. Mine was a three-foot ledge, possibly man-made, that hugged the rock face as it threaded deeper into the heart of the hill.
“You continue on the main path,” I whispered to Cole. “Scouting only. Report back as soon as you find something. Astral, you’re with Cole. Follow his orders until I tell you otherwise.”
“Be careful,” Cole said, patting my back. I realized I shouldn’t have felt his palm against my left shoulder just as he said, “You’re flaking pretty badly in places.”
Too freaking true.
I stepped forward as he slunk away, robokitty a shadow at his feet.
Within minutes we found the gnomes in a gorge that was blocked at the far end by an old rockfall that had taken several trees with it. Water flowed over the boulders to the creek below, raising a mist, making footing treacherous.
The Ufranites had found excellent cover. They should’ve stayed behind it. But like many newly initiated to violence, they overestimated their abilities and attacked first. The lead gnome’s shot slammed into my right leg, spun me back into the wall. Since I was slicker than the rocks supporting me, I lost my footing before I could even attempt to regain my balance. I took another shot as I fell. A shout of pain let me know I’d hit one before I landed on my hip, teetered on the lip of the ledge, and then rolled off. Ice flew like shattering glass as I swept down the slope, banging into an outcropping before landing at the bottom in a foot of water.
I stared up, estimated that I’d fallen at least a story, and began my inspection. Yup, I’d be bruised worse than a sloppy stuntman, but nothing seemed to be broken. Except the armor, which had taken a helluva pounding. A slick coating still covered my head, arms and legs, but it was cracked so badly I didn’t think it would protect against anything more intense than a friendly tap. My theory gained weight when I felt water trickle through the gaps, soaking my jeans.
“Shit!” I crawled onto the creek bank.
“Jasmine, are you all right?” Vayl crouched over me, shielding me from the steady onslaught of killer steel.
I looked up at him, kneeling like a warrior praying before battle, supremely confident behind his icy coating. And wanted to punch him.
“Your goddamn armor put me on my ass!”
“I hardly think—”
“Stop protecting me, okay? It’s going to get me killed!”
I rolled to one side, squeezed off three shots, hitting three guards who’d chosen that moment to rush us.
Their buddies, who’d peeked above cover to catch the show, ducked when I continued to pull the trigger. Pausing to reload, I noticed that Vayl had disappeared.
I caught sight of him a few seconds later, moving like a mountain goat among obstacles that would’ve broken another man’s legs. “Walking icebergs shouldn’t be that graceful.” I didn’t realize I’d muttered the words out loud until Vayl replied.
“Would you prefer it if I went sprawling?” he asked, his tone as cold as his coating.
“No! I just don’t want anyone else saving my life, that’s all.”
“That is the most ignorant comment I have ever heard you make.” Oh, he sounds mad, said Teen Me, biting her nails. Maybe you’d better back off. What if he breaks up with you?
My Inner Bimbo finished off her Jack and Coke and yelled for another. There’s more where he came from.
Um, not really. But he just refuses to see the big picture! Every time someone pulls me back from the brink I end up farther down the road to Freaksville. Right now, if I was in a game show audience and the host said, “Would all the humans please stand up?” I wouldn’t know what to do!
Luckily the Ufranites didn’t give a crap what I was. Which forced me to swing my mind back to the job.
I took another shot, watched my target drop as Vayl’s sword swung and the chill of his powers filled the air. Realizing our opponents were out of Grief’s range, I crawled forward, sliding across the ground like a sled on snow.
Another swing, the gargling protest of a dying foe. Then Vayl dropped behind a rock the size of a mattress. A grunt. The clash of metal on metal. One last whooshing report from a gnomish gun. And then nothing.
“Vayl?”
No reply.
“Vayl?” Nothing.
Naw. No, no, no! I creaked to my feet and scrambled to the spot where I’d seen him last, hopping from tree trunk to stone step without a single thought as to how I was going to get out of this dead end if I broke a bone.
I found him kneeling over one of the bodies, searching its pockets.
“What the hell are you looking for?”
“I am searching for clues as to the shaman’s identity or location.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I demanded. “You scared the crap out of me!” He looked up. “And if I had been in mortal danger just now? If I could have died as you can? What would you have done to save me?”
“I…” I clamped my mouth shut.
“Jasmine?”
“Still trying to put me through my lessons, are you?” I asked bitterly.
“I have a great deal to share and you are, usually, a quick study. So, yes. I want you to understand the lengths to which I would go in order to assure your continued existence.”
“You sound like a damn Vulcan. You know, from Star Trek ? So freaking smooth and logical with all your emotions locked down like death row prisoners.”
He raised an eyebrow. As if he knew how much that single move would irritate me. “Perhaps this conversation would be better saved until we have no audience?”
“What, you mean we should tune the others out? Like you’ve done to me for the past few days?”
“You are the one who got yourself possessed. I am simply trying to complete this mission successfully with you, though clearly I would have been smarter to ship you back to Cleveland the moment I learned that your situation compromised every move we attempt.”
“I didn’t get myself possessed! I saved my life, and Raoul’s, by biting that monster! And now he’s in me, like a poison, and all you’ve done is cut me off like I’m already dead!” Not fair, I knew. No way could we pull this off with Brude undermining us, which he’d do every chance he got because clearly the gnomes and the Weres had promised to help him bulk up his army. But I’d taken care of that problem myself. Me. Without any help, dammit! Just like I could do everything else!
Vayl came at me so fast I didn’t even have time to jerk away. His hands gripped me, the ice instantly melting beneath his touch. His eyes, black as the pit I felt yawning beneath me, speared mine.
“I did what I had to in order to make this mission work. Tell me you would not have done the same!
And then promise me you will never die!”
Silence. And then, quiet but clear, the singsong voice of Cole ringing in our ears, “Jazzy’s a pain in the a-ass. So glad she gave me a pa-ass!”
Vayl snorted.
I chuckled. Then I said, “I’m sorry. It’s Pete.” I closed my eyes against the burn of unshed tears. Forced myself to roll on. “And the ice thing.” I glared up at him. “I get your point, okay? But you bit me, dammit!
You know what that means. Nobody saves me without consequences. And it seems like the part of me that pays is my humanity. I can’t… Jesus, Vayl, how much more can I afford to lose? I mean…” I couldn’t go on. He didn’t make me. He crushed me to his chest, the clash of our armor sounding like a gunshot in the gorge. What didn’t break off began to melt, the ice running so quickly to water that I could feel his muscles straining to press against my breasts.
Cold, slick ice on my hands. On his back. Both of us practically writhing beneath it, burning to touch one another in ways we were still just discovering.