Текст книги "The Bitter Seed of Magic"
Автор книги: Сьюзан Маклеод
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Текущая страница: 20 (всего у книги 26 страниц)
Chapter Forty-One
Heart pounding, I shoved at Malik, surprised when he backed off. ‘How the hell did you break through the Ward?’
He smiled, flashing fang. ‘You used a blood-Ward against a vampire you have freely given your blood to. The Ward holds me in place, but it also stretches with me.’
Which was exactly the warning Ricou had given me when I set the Ward: it was designed for protection, and that meant anyone inside it with a blood connection could do what Malik had done and stretch it; with enough will and time, they could even break it. And the Wards completely lose their effectiveness on your kids once they hit puberty, Ricou’d said in disgust—not that Malik needed to know I knew any of that.
‘You came too close,’ he said, placing a hand flat against the wall on one side of my head and leaning into me, ‘now, tell me what it is you require from me, Genevieve.’
Constable Taegrin’s voice called through the door. ‘Genny! Are you all right?’
‘I’m fine, and he’s agreed,’ I shouted, so they’d leave us alone. I narrowed my eyes at Malik. ‘Haven’t you?’
‘I have agreed to continue the game you have started. Notes and letters, or should I say, insubstantial carrots and sticks? If you were truly going to “allow” yourself to be abducted, you would have done so without giving me the opportunity to oppose it.’ He leaned closer, almost close enough to kiss, and breathed his next words against my mouth. ‘What is it you want, Genevieve?’
I put my hand on his chest. His heart wasn’t beating, and oddly, it reminded me of Finn’s heart thudding against my cheek, and why I was here. I pushed Malik back so I could look him in the eyes, then dropped my hand. ‘Helen Crane’s been tampering with evidence to cover the murderer’s tracks—but Helen’s disappeared. That note says she can no longer protect Maxim’s son, which means that his son is almost certainly the murderer. I want you to use your Oligarch powers and make Maxim talk to the police, and get him to tell them everything he knows.’
‘This is what you have deduced from Helen Crane’s note.’ He picked up a strand of my hair, twisting it through his fingers.
‘Well, from that and other things, like Francine’s and Maxim’s memories that the Morrígan showed me,’ I said, trying not to notice the way my scalp tingled.
‘And who do you think is Maxim’s son?’
‘I’m not sure, but I think it might be the manager at the Coffin Club: Gareth Wilson. He’s the right age and colouring …’ I trailed off at the mildly interested look on Malik’s face. My gut twisted in frustration. ‘He’s not, is he?’
‘No.’
Damn. Sometimes a straight answer isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I didn’t bother asking him how he knew; if he had any doubts, he would’ve been more evasive.
‘Who is Maxim’s son, then?’ I asked.
‘I do not know.’
Another frustratingly straight answer. ‘But he does have a son?’
‘It is something I can neither confirm nor deny.’
I sighed. He was holding out on me again. Shame the ordering bit only worked one way. And disappointing as it was that my suspicions about the murderer had been a leap in the wrong direction, it wasn’t necessary information. All I had to do to stop the killer and save Nicky and the other faelings was to put our master plan into action. Simple. Now I just had to convince the aggravating, much-too-beautiful vamp whose elegant fingers were still playing with my hair and still sending tantalising little tremors over my skin, to help me.
‘The police are mounting an undercover operation,’ I told him, and revealed the one pertinent detail of my supposed abduction that I’d omitted first time around: Constable Martin and the Doppelgänger spell.
‘She is a police officer,’ he said indifferently as he ran a hand down the sleeve of my leather jacket. His touch seemed to burn against my bare skin– mesma—and I studiously ignored it. ‘She would not do this unless both she and her superiors felt she were capable,’ he finished.
‘Yeah, I know. But while she’s pretending she’s me, I could make use of the distraction.’ I took a deep breath and mentally crossed my fingers. ‘I want to sneak into the Tower, locate the entrance they’re using, then crackthe magic holding it closed. At which point London’s finest can swarm in and sort it all out.’
He clasped my left wrist, his skin cool against my more heated flesh. My pulse jumped like it was trying to escape my skin. I concentrated on calming it.
‘You still do not tell me what you want of me, Genevieve,’ he murmured, giving me a sleepy look that was as much invitation as innuendo.
Bastard was playing with me.Okay, admittedly I’d started it, but if he thought coming on to me was going to make me back down, he could think again.
‘I want you to come with me,’ I said brightly, ‘as back-up.’
His hand round my wrist tightened for a second, then relaxed. His eyes half-closed as he considered me. ‘You wish me to play rescuing hero with you?’
‘Yes.’
‘Why?’
‘Despite what you think, I’m not reckless, I don’t want to get injured, and if I go in there on my own, it could be tantamount to suicide. Plus you’re the best vamp for the job. Once I get us inside, you can do your vanishing-into-the-shadows trick and keep us both hidden while I search for the entrance, and at the same time you can keep me safe.’ I smiled expectantly, hoping he’d see it as a done deal. ‘Simple.’
He gave me a lazy smile back, and I caught a glimpse of fang as his thumb rubbed over my pulse, the touch sending shivers through my blood. ‘And what if I do not wish to accompany you?’
Did I go for straight for Plan B, or take the (definitely interesting) hand he was dealing and see how the cards fell? Choices, choices.
I flattened my palms on his chest, pushing him back again, and this time I left them there, relishing the cool silk of his skin against my own venom-heated flesh. ‘Maybe I could persuade you,’ I said, giving it my best seductive voice.
He traced a finger down my throat. My pulse there started up a rapid tattoo, even with the venom hit my day’s ration of blood-fruit had already given me. ‘What had you in mind, Genevieve?’ he murmured.
I swallowed, my mouth dry, recalling the images he’d dropped in my head not ten minutes ago, and looked past him at the bed. ‘You’re the one with the imagination, you tell me.’
He clasped my wrists and lifted them slowly above my head, as if he expected me to protest, and a spiral of anticipation and need twisted inside me. I lifted my chin in silent offering. After all, he was hungry, and with 3V and the blood-fruit turbo-boosting my blood production, I had plenty to spare. He captured my wrists in one hand and pinned them, amused heat lighting his eyes. ‘My imagination informs me it has a plan.’
I licked my lips, nervous in a good way. ‘And what does this plan involve?’
He traced a tingling line down the lace V of my silk top.
Desire shot through my veins like high-voltage electricity, leaving me quivering.
‘It involves’—his fingers grazed the swell of my left breast—‘staying here.’
My nipples tightened, pushing against the lace of my bra.
‘Where I can’—he cupped my breast through the silk of my top—‘protect you.’ His thumb brushed over the stiff, sensitive peak. I gasped, arching into his palm. ‘Yes, I like this plan better,’ he said, sounding entirely too pleased with himself.
‘Seducing me isn’t protecting me, Malik,’ I breathed, wondering if this was going where I thought, or if he was going to do his usual, and stop before things really got hot—
He stopped—and I almost whimpered in frustration … until he moved to give the same teasing attention to my other breast. Then I couldn’t help but whimper.
‘Ah,’ he said, his eyes deep pools of drowning darkness, ‘but who is seducing whom, Genevieve?’
‘I’m the one with my hands above my head.’ Mentally, I willed my melting legs to hold me.
‘Yet you are not struggling, and see how your body responds to my touch,’ he said softly, continuing his light, barely there caresses. ‘I find it … intriguing, how much you want this. I wonder what other liberties will you allow me in the hope I will accede to your needs?’
Needs?I closed my eyes and tipped my head back against the wall. I needed his mouth on my throat, his hands on my body, and him deep inside me.Were they my thoughts, or his? It didn’t matter. I wanted this, and not just to persuade him to help me. I was tired of always being the kid outside the sweet shop with her nose pressed against the glass, tired of sex being about breaking curses, about commitment, of about anything other than pleasure and fun. Life was too short not to enjoy it—maybe a cliché, but it was true. If it wasn’t for Sylvia and luck, I could be suffering the same fate in the Tower as the poor missing faelings. I wanted this, wanted Malik, just—well, just because. Even if that was selfish, while others might be dying … except until the rest of the plans came together, there wasn’t anything else I could do right now. And he did need persuading.
I looked at him from under my lashes. ‘What other liberties have you in mind?’
Chapter Forty-Two
‘I am uncertain.’ He skimmed his hand down my body, slipping it beneath the hem of my top and resting his cool palm at my waist. ‘You see, Genevieve, there is really nothing you can give me that I cannot already have for the taking, if I so wished. It removes an element of delicious excitement, knowing you will not resist me.’
Bastard. Play hard to get, why don’ t you?
‘Is that what you want, Malik? Resistance?’ I twisted my wrists in his grip, pushing up against him, feeling him hard and ready. ‘Do you want me struggling beneath you, screaming for you to stop as you take me by force?’
He continued to gaze at me, his dark, enigmatic eyes giving nothing away.
‘Or is it that you want me willing?’ His fingers trembled against my side and I knew that was it. I pressed my lips to his throat, tasted salt and spice, and nipped under his jaw. ‘Then you can have me, Malik,’ I whispered, ‘I’m willing.’
He released me and stepped back, his expression suddenly grim. ‘Do not lie to me, Genevieve,’ he said, his voice harsh.
Surprise winged through me and the air in my lungs seemed to whoosh out, leaving me shaky and unsteady. My heart jackhammered in my chest, then it settled. We weren’t playing games any more. This was real. And for some reason he was angry. Angry vamps are never good news.
‘I’m sidhe, Malik, we can’tlie.’ I pressed my back against the wall, keeping my eyes on his, wary.
He braced his hands against the wall to either side of my head, and leaned into me. I froze as his anger chilled the air and my breath trailed between us like a malevolent fog. Dread slicked down my spine, and I fought the instinctive urge to curl into a tight ball, to hide. Mesma.Nothing more. Just good old vamp mesma. I lifted my chin and stared into the opaque darkness of his eyes … and was buffeted by a confusing tornado of emotions: intense desire, rabid hunger, unending guilt, and an incandescent rage. All of them tempered and held in check by an implacable will …
‘Why is having my back-up so important to you that you would do this to obtain it, Genevieve?’
… the emotions swirled around me, and then vanished, leaving me alone in the wind-blasted desolation of a vast barren plain.
‘Genevieve?’
I blinked. His feelings had come and gone so quickly that if it weren’t for the icy quiet they’d left in their wake, I’d have thought I’d imagined them. I was suddenly aware that maybe I’d misread him. Or he me. Or the situation. ‘This isn’t just about back-up,’ I said slowly. ‘I thought you wanted me, and I wanted you too.’
He regarded me for a long moment, then his expression smoothed back to its usual enigmatic blankness. A warm breeze sprung from nowhere, carrying with it a soothing scent of spice and liquorice, and something else, some fragile emotion I couldn’t quite catch … yearning?
‘Tell me what is so important, Genevieve.’
I sighed, bereft as the feeling dissipated, and the order slipped into my mind. ‘I told you, finding the killer, saving the missing faelings, and ultimately breaking the curse.’
‘You would sacrifice yourself to me for this?’
I half-laughed, incredulous. ‘Malik, offering you blood and sex doesn’t even come close to being a sacrifice.’ My gaze skimmed over the lean perfection of his chest, followed the dark silky hair there as it arrowed down to disappear enticingly beneath his low-slung leather trousers and I only just managed not to drool. ‘It’s not like I’m being a martyr here or anything.’
‘You have just told me you cannot lie, Genevieve, but I wonder. Last night you did not want me to touch you, today you remind me that you would prefer to kill me rather than succumb to me, and now you expect me to believe that you want me willingly?’
‘Wow, for someone who’s got five centuries behind them you’re a bit dense, aren’t you? Last night, I was furious, and damn right, I didn’t want you to touch me. And no, I’m not going to be yours or any other vamp’s mindless little blood-slave, or your over-protected, pampered blood-pet either. And I’ll do whatever it takes so I don’t end up like that. But that wasn’t what I thought was on the table here. Sex and blood I’m more than happy to indulge in.’
‘You say that, and yet you feed Darius by way of a plastic bag.’ His mouth curled in distaste.
‘What?’
‘If you are happy to indulge in sex and blood, then what purpose do the bags hold?’
‘C’mon, Malik,’ I said, exasperated, ‘that’s got nothing to do with anything.’
‘Tell me, Genevieve.’
‘Fine. I’m not interested in going to Sucker Town every other night. It’s not the highlight of my social life, and not only that, I’ve got my job’– or I did have. I shoved the thought away; it wasn’t something to worry about now—‘and other things’—like reading curse– crackingbooks. Yep, my life is that exciting.Of course, I could always do with a little less excitement right now—‘so the bags are convenient,’ I finished with a scowl.
‘Are you telling me you only indulge in blood and sex with Darius once a week?’
I stared at him in disbelief. Was he not listening to me or something? Or was this some sort of vamp pride thing? Or was he jealous? Nah, that was just wishful thinking—not that I wanted him jealous; his over-protectiveness was already difficult enough to deal with.
‘What is your problem with Darius?’ I demanded.
‘Answer me, Genevieve.’
‘No, I don’t only indulge in blood and sex with Darius once a week.’ There, chew on that nicely ambiguous answer, your Fanged Hotness.
A pinprick of rage flickered in his pupils, then it was gone. ‘How many times a week?’
Damn orders.‘None,’ I growled.
Astonishment flashed over his face. ‘Why not, if you are happy to indulge so with me?’
Was he really that stupid?I narrowed my eyes. ‘What the hell’s with the twenty questions?’ And why the hell was he asking them? He was Head Fang: he had his spies all over Sucker Town … I could understand him not knowing about Mad Max’s secrets, but surely he had to know about me?
A perplexed line creased between his brows. ‘I am trying to understand why you are offering yourself to me, Genevieve.’
‘Fuck, Malik!’ I threw my hands in the air. ‘I want you. I desire you. I lust after you. My idiotic libido sits up and pants when you’re around. And it’s not like I can hide it: you’re a vamp, you’ve got super-senses, so you must have noticed.’
‘I am aware of how you react to me physically, Genevieve.’ His frown deepened. ‘But you care enough for Darius to take responsibility for his existence, and to put yourself in danger in order to save him. He is by all accounts very … talented, and yet you say you have not taken him as your lover. You have not taken any lovers among the fae either, and this suggests that you do not give yourself lightly, therefore the only conclusion I can come to is that despite your evident physical desire for me, you are not truly willing. I do not wish to take advantage of you.’
My mouth dropped open in shock. ‘Okay, this is just way too strange. One: no way am I going to take a lover from the fae, not with a fertility curse hanging over my head, and two: this seductionwas all your idea. You started it, I just went along for the ride’– ha, ha,and wasn’t that a Freudian slip? Not that I was getting one—‘I did notcome here to seduce you. I mean, why would I even think I could? It’s not like you’ve ever had a problem resisting either my body or my blood before. Or now.’
He opened his mouth—
–and I slapped my hand over it, wishing I’d done the same to my own a few seconds ago. ‘Oh no.’ I shook my head. ‘We are so not doing this any more. And don’t you dare think about giving me any orders. You’re the one blowing hot and cold and playing games, so this conversation is over.’
I ducked out beneath his arms, stalked to the wardrobe and threw the doors open. I stared blindly into the dark interior, wondering if I could just crawl in there and hide as the adrenalin high of anger and arousal dissolved into embarrassment. Did I really have to tell him exactly how I felt? And what was that crack about Darius being talented? And what the hell just happened? Other than he’d rejected me– again. And, hello, why was I even hot and bothered about that? It’s not like I really wanted any sort of actual relationship with him … did I? Shit, I should have gone straight to Plan B instead of giving into a stupid impulse.
Well, I was damn well putting Plan B in action now. I shrugged off my jacket and glanced over my shoulder. He was standing there, arms crossed, a pensive look on his face. I flipped my hand, indicating he should turn round. He didn’t. Bastard.‘I want to change, Malik,’ I said sharply, flipping my hand again.
‘I wish to see how your injuries are healing, Genevieve,’ he answered coolly, as if nothing had happened, ‘and I have seen you without your clothes before.’
‘Not by my choice,’ I huffed, ‘and you just lost your chance at that ever again, so either turn round’—I grabbed a long-sleeved T-shirt and flapped it at the window—‘or I’ll change outside on the roof.’
His nostrils flared and I tensed, then he turned and gave me his back.
I swapped the silk top for the T-shirt. Damn irritating vamp. I tugged off my high-heeled boots and kicked them under the bed in annoyance. They knocked over the tidy rows he’d left with a thud and I saw his shoulders flinch. Score one for me. I dropped my velvet jeans and caught sight of the Chastity handprint spell on my stomach. Crap, I’d forgotten all about it—weird that the spell hadn’t kicked in when things started getting all steamy with Malik. I grimaced and pulled on a pair of black denims.
‘It was truly not your intention to seduce me, Genevieve?’ Oddly his question sounded … regretful? Or maybe that was my stupid, wishful imagination. And did the damn vampnever give up?
‘I came here with a plan,’ I said through gritted teeth, ‘and a half-assed idea that you could help me. But I knew you wouldn’t just say yes, that would be way too easy; you’re a vamp, after all, so I brought my insubstantial carrots and sticks. But then you decided to change the game, and for one stupid, idiotic moment of total insanity, I thought, why the hell not?’ I blew out an indignant breath. ‘I should’ve known better. Oh, and you can stop communing with the wall now. I’m decent.’
He turned, his brow lined in a frown. ‘Why are you changing?’
‘These are my best jeans’—I shook the velvet jeans out and hung them in the wardrobe—‘and so far they haven’t got any blood on them. I’m hoping to keep it that way.’ I bent and fished under the bed for some more practical footwear. I slumped on the bed and shoved my feet into the flat ankle boots.
He sat next to me. ‘I am sorry, Genevieve.’ He touched my cheek, a brief, gentle trail of his cool fingers. ‘But I cannot let you leave on this suicide mission.’ His dark spice and leather scent curled round me consoling and remorseful. ‘I have given my word to protect you.’
‘I know. You’ve told me. More than once. But that’s between you and Tavish and whatever the two of you’ve got going on together, it’s got nothing to do with me.’ I stood. Time to leave. ‘Unless of course, you’re prepared to tell me what that is?’ I paused, but he didn’t enlighten me. Figured. ‘Fine, I’ll see you around then. Maybe.’ I took the couple of steps to the door and reached for the handle—
–and, vamp-fast, he was standing between me and the door. ‘Do not force me to do this, Genevieve.’
‘I’m not forcing you to do anything,’ I said flatly. ‘You can come with me and protect me, or not. Your choice.’
‘It is too dangerous.’ Pinpricks of power lit in the depths of his dark eyes. ‘You will not go.’
I winced as the order slammed into my mind. Time to let the beautiful vamp in on the limitations.
‘Malik, even if I appreciated the whole macho-vamp-protection thing, you can’t keep ordering me about. It’s not enough to do the job. Your protection only works when it comes to vamps, and it’s not going to make one iota of difference to anyone else who is determined to come after me. Like, if the two trolls out there came in and took me bodily away, even if the Ward wasn’t there, you couldn’t do anything until after sunset. Come dawn tomorrow you are going to be defenceless, and about as much use as a bodyguard as a leaky boat on the Thames. You’re daylight-challenged, and you always will be.’
Frustration flared in his eyes.
I carried on, ‘Once the killer and Victoria Harrier find out they have a substitute, what do you think they’re going to do? They’re going to dump my doppelgänger and come after who they really want: me. London’s only sidhe. It’s only common sense to stop them before they decide to do that.’
‘This is a matter better left to the police, Genevieve. I will not agree to your participation.’
I laughed: it wasn’t happy. ‘You still don’t get it, do you? This isn’t about you agreeing or not agreeing. You were just my first choice. You’re not the only vamp in town, and if you’re not prepared to go with me, then I know a vamp that will.’
‘Darius is too young and too weak to aid you, Genevieve,’ he said dismissively.
‘I’m not talking about Darius, my liege.’ I stuck my hands on my hips and gave him a ‘so-there’ look. Childish, I know, but hey– ‘I’m talking about Francine. All I have to do is ask for her help in your name and she’ll give it me. And she’s a kick-ass lady who does a mean line in illusions. Not to mention she hates Maxim, so she’ll be thrilled to coax him into telling the police and me whatever we want to know. Then let’s not forget Cousin Fyodor, and whatever stories he’s got to tell.’ I mimed pulling out a stake. ‘He’s old enough that it won’t take long to get him back into talking order again. Oh, and don’t think your little order about staying out of Sucker Town will make any difference; the police can take me there by force if need be.’
‘No.’
I shot him an impatient glare. ‘What does “No” mean?’
He brushed a hand over his shorn head. ‘No, you do not need to ask Francine for her help,’ he said, conceding with obvious reluctance. ‘I will accompany you, and I will do all in my power to assist you. On two conditions.’
‘Which are?’
‘One: your safety is my prime concern,’ he said firmly. ‘And two: if you are putting yourself in danger, then you should be better prepared physically. You will allow me to heal your injuries first.’
Take his blood? My pulse quickened in anticipation. I wanted to say it wasn’t a good idea, except it was, and we both knew it.
‘Agreed,’ I said, adding, ‘Just being practical,’ at his surprised look. Reaching down to the threshold, I wiped away some of the dried blood and broke the Ward, then opened the door. I nodded at the two trolls standing to attention. ‘We’re going with Plan A,’ I said.
‘Right-o, Genny,’ Constable Lamber said.
‘Plan A, Genevieve?’ Malik raised an elegant, enquiring brow. ‘You are aware that I had ordered you not to leave, and therefore these two gentlemen would not have been able to pass your blood-Ward to retrieve you until it dissipated?’
‘Not true, sir.’ Taegrin held out his hand to me.
‘Plan B,’ I said, taking the red jellybean from his palm, and the green one that Lamber gave me and showed them to Malik. ‘Ward-Key spells.’ I’d had a lo-oong chat with Ricou about blood-Wards. ‘A drop of my blood and will in the sweets means they can cross the Ward without breaking it, in the same way I can.’ I tossed the sweeties in my mouth and ate them and their magic with a smug smile. ‘Therefore rendering them able to retrieve me while still leaving you trapped.’
‘Bravo, Genevieve.’ He inclined his head in acknowledgement. ‘Speaking of practicalities, how do you intend to take us inside the Tower?’
I pursed my lips. ‘Actually, that’s the difficult bit of the plan. I know someone who can help, but I’m not sure if they will.’ Or what it was going to cost me. I gave Malik a sideways look. ‘We’ll leave off the healing bit until after they’ve agreed.’
